February *, 1890,] Ttfr TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
1. Lime is a necessary ooDstitueut of all naturally 
fertile soils, as it is required to make up the 
mineral portion of our crops. 
2. Ou clay soils it has a wonderful effect in decom- 
posing the insoluble silicates of potash and ren- 
dering them available as plant food. 
3. On peaty land or rich vegetable soils it corrects 
the excessive acidity and promotes the forma- 
tion of valuable nitric acid compoands from the 
previously inert nitrogenous organic matter. 
4. Ou damp soils it improves the mechanical con- 
dition, making them not only drier but more 
friable and easier worked. 
6. Finally, if used judioiously, lime may be truly 
regarded as the key for unlocking the bidden 
treasures of the soil, and making them available 
for the production of larger and better crops, 
while for certain diseases — such as fingers-aud- 
ioes in turnips — it is considered a speoifioe in 
many localities. 
In excessive quantities, or, if applied too frequently 
I'ming is, undoUbte lly, exhausting, and this fact has 
Siven rise to the saying that lime is good for the father 
but bad for the Sun. 
Liming should be followed by manuring, and then 
the full benefit of both will be obtained. Indeed, with- 
out a sufficient supply of lime in the soil, the applic- 
ation of ordiLary farmyurd manure is frequently most 
disappointing in its results, especially in the case of 
rout crops. 
Before proceeding further, however, it will bj useful 
to mention in a tabulated iorm the relative amount 
of lime removed fiom the soil by the ordinary farm 
crops.and thereader will easily understand by looking 
at the figures which crops remove the most, and there- 
fore, should not be sown unless the land contains a 
sufficient supply of lime, or it is proposed to add it 
specially. 
Lime removed per acre by an average crop of the 
following : — 
lb. lb. 
Clover hay 2 tons, contain 86 
Turnips root 17 tons ... „ 25 1 _ „ . 
leaf .. ,,49/ ' 4 
Mangels root, 22 tons . . „ 24 I — c 9 
„ leaf ... „ 29 j 
Swedes root, 14 tuns ... „ 20 5 : 
„ leaf .. 22$ 
Beans grain, 35 bush ... ,, 3) 
„ straw .. „ 30/ =33 
Meadow hay 1£ tjns, .. „ 
Potatoes tuber, 6 tons . . „ 3 \ 
„ haulm 23 j 
Oats grain, 45 bush... „ 2 7=^2 
„ straw ... ,, 10 
Wheat grain, 30 bush. . ,, 1 
„ straw „ 10 
Barley grain, 40 bush... 
,. straw 
: 42 
28 
■-26 
lit- 
84 J 
=11 
=10 
From the above it will be seen that corn crops re- 
quire but little lime, and that most of it exists in the 
straw, which we know is usually retu' ned to the land 
in the form of dung. 
Potatoes, meadow hay, and beans come next in the 
table, then swedes, maugrls, and turnips, and, finally 
clover hay, which, in a moderate crop ot 2 tons, removes 
as much us 86 lb. of lime per acre. In addition to the 
crops mentioned above, peas, vetches, and sanfoin also 
require a generous supply of lime in order to yield 
good returns. 
We find upon inquiry that the use of lime seems to 
be limited to certain localities, and that the quantity 
applied per acre, as well a i the quality of the lirnu, 
varies in different parts of the country. 
Thus, in Scotland, in the western counties of Eng- 
land, and in South Wales the practice of liming is still 
mucti esteemed by practical farmers, while in the 
southern and eastern counties, where the soil is natu- 
rally calcareous, being connected with the upper and 
lower chalk formations, and where the climate is 
warmer and the rainfall less, it is not usual to apply 
me in its caustic condition ; though in oounties such 
as Lincolnshire and 'Yorkshire much benefit is derived 
from a good dressing of chalk marl every nineteen or 
twenty years. 
Again, in Cornwall sea-sand, rich in carbonate of 
lime, in the form of minute particles of marine shells 
is extensively u«ed for mixing with farmyard dung as 
a manure for barley. 
Indeed, this looal practice of applying lime in the 
milder form of carbonate teaches us that on light 
sandy soils, naturally poor in organic vegetable matter, 
it is more prudent to use lime in this condition than 
in the oaustic form of calcined limestone, which would 
have an injurious effeot on such light soils. 
Moreover, we may fairly conclude that if finely- 
ground shells are useful as a dressing for soils ljr»bt 
in character and deficient in lime, finely.ground 
raw phosphates, such as coprolities, Belgian phos- 
phate, or the more recently introduced basic slag 
are also suitable and economically valuable fertiliners, 
although the phosphate of lime is in the form known 
as insoluble phosphate. 
In the next place, as regards the quantity of lime 
applied, there is great variation. Thus in Scot- 
land, notably in the neighbourhood of Roxburgh, as 
much as 200 bushels are used per imperial acre, at 
intervals of every nineteen years, whereas, near Dur- 
ham, 90 bushels every twelve years, is the usual 
dose, and on the red soils of Worcester, 70 every 
six or eight years. 
The weight per bushel varies from 70 to 100 lb., 
according to the quality of the lime and the care tak-n 
in burning. As a eeneral rule, it may be taken that 
the quality varies with the weight; toe less the weight 
the better the quality. 
There are a great many varieties of limestone whioh, 
on burning, produce a corresponding variety in the 
quality of the lime. 
InSomersetshi e and Devonshire there is the famous 
carboniferous or mountain limestone, in G'amorgau- 
shire the well-known lias limestone as found at Abertliaw. 
In Pembrokeshire we find silurian, also caradoc, wbich 
latter although, containing 80 per cent, of carbonate 
of lime, is regarded by g^o'ogists as a sandstone on 
account of its grjttv formation. 
Lst'y, the rolitic li'ne tones of Gloucestershire and 
chalk* of Kent and Sussex form another class which 
yields a great variety of caustic lime. 
If peaking generally, the best limestone for agricultural 
purposes is that which yie'ds after burning the purest 
and wh;te-t powd> r on slaking witu waier. 
Mountain limestone produces excellent lime ; 1 ton 
should yield, after burning, 11 cwt. of caustic or 
quicklime. 
The goodness or richness of lime may also be noted 
bv observing the quantify of water absorbed during 
s'aking — the more, tbe better the quility. Toe superior 
limes swell out and increase iu bulk from two to three 
times their original size. When a farmer, therefore, 
has the choice of differ -nt qualities, it wi 1 be worth 
his while to get, some information as to which it 
will be most economical to employ. 
Freshly-burnt lime is soluble to the extent of 1 
part in 770 parts of water, and has a hot, alkaline 
taste, which is very marked when compar d wih 
the mild taste of powdered chalk, which is only 
soluble to the extent of 1 part in 3,500 parts of water, 
or 2 graics per gallon. 
Lime has a natural tendency to work downw irds 
in the soil as it becomes dissolved ; it should, there- 
fore, never be ploughed in, but sown broadcast on 
the surface, and the land allowed to remain untouched 
for a week or so. 
In the analyses of the drainage water from the ex- 
periment d p'ots at Rothamsted, it was found that 
the quantity of lime pa«s»il through the soil increased 
with the quant i y of nitric acid passing away. 
Thus, while 1he water from the uumauured plot 
contained only 6-97 grains of lime and 1'05 grains of 
nitric acid per gallon, the water from the plot 
mauured wi h a heavy dressing of sulphate of ammonia 
contained 13'81 grains of lime and 4 55 grains of 
nitric acid per gallon. 
