FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
175 
Discussion 
Mr. Warner: May I ask the ques¬ 
tion of Mrs. Prange in regard to the 
application of lime; when it should be 
put on. 
Mrs. Prange: Put it oh just as soon 
as you can, unless you have just put on 
an application of fertilizer. 
Mr. Warner: I happened to apply 
lime just after a severe drought and it 
seemed to me it did harm for the time 
being. It was ground limestone. There 
seemed to be other instances along the 
same line. But there may have been 
other causes. 
Mrs. Prange: I would say the harm 
must have come from some other cause. 
Another form of lime might have a ten¬ 
dency to burn, but ground limestone is 
harmless in application. 
Mr. Soar: I would like to ask 
whether you believe acids will be 
formed in the soil by turning under 
green matter in the winter time. 
Mrs. Prange: The colder the weath¬ 
er and the lighter the nature of the 
soil, the less harm there will be in turn¬ 
ing under green vegetation, but al¬ 
though we can do that many times, just 
the same as we can eat very indigesti¬ 
ble food many times and suffer no harm 
from it, it is likely to do a great deal 
of harm. 
I have given the matter a good deal 
of attention, just as I have the action 
of superphosphate on the Florida soil, 
and I have taken up the matter with the 
Chief of the Bureau of Soils, who con¬ 
firms my position. I believe that the 
reason green vegetables is so likely to 
do harm in Florida (we know it is good 
in the North) is that we probably have 
a different soil flora here in Florida, the 
same as we have a different * surface 
flora, and the different forms of bac¬ 
teria and fungi undoubtedly break down 
these vegetable compounds in a differ¬ 
ent way. If you want to have me ex¬ 
plain what this difference is, I will say 
right now, I don't know. 
Mr.-: I would like to ask the 
quantity of lime rock that should be 
applied on the basis of per acre or per 
tree. 
Mrs. Prange: I should say two or 
three tons, as a general recommenda¬ 
tion, per acre. I say per acre because 
you have to apply broadcast in order to 
get proper results. Lighter soils need 
rather less lime than heavier soils. It 
is not economy to buy lime except in 
car lots. When you consider the dif¬ 
ference in the cost of lime in car lots f. 
o. b., and the price in sacks, it is more 
economical for you to use some four or 
five tons per acre in a small grove, than 
to get just exactly what you think you 
need. In our Florida practice of fertili¬ 
zation, you will lose very nearly 1,000 
pounds of lime per acre from your grove 
each year. 
Use lime as you would oil your ma¬ 
chinery. You would not neglect put¬ 
ting oil on your machinery. 
Mr. Hume : In this same connection, 
we have another paper from Mr. Wood, 
of Tampa. This paper is at the hotel and 
it will, of course, be printed. 
