FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
97 
very general. Even the best soil chem¬ 
ists are not agreed upon a uniform 
method, although a number of methods 
have been proposed and are being tried 
in various laboratories. When such 
methods are perfected, as they ulti¬ 
mately will be, we can determine the 
exact acidity of any soil and then cal¬ 
culate to a nicety the amount of lime 
required to neutralize this acidity. Un¬ 
til such methods are perfected, investi¬ 
gators and agriculturists will have to 
content themselves with using tenta¬ 
tive methods and with field trials, using 
different quantities until the right 
amount is found for the different class¬ 
es of soils. One thing, however, seems 
definitely settled, and that is that we 
must recognize the fact that an acid 
condition in the soil is more generally 
prevalent than has heretofore been be¬ 
lieved to be the case. 
WHAT CAUSES THIS ACIDITY? 
In wet locations where large quanti¬ 
ties of organic matter undergo decay, 
enormous amouts of humus accumu¬ 
late as a result of the decomposition. 
Such humus is said to be usually, 
though not always, in an acid state. 
The acidity is naturally dependent upon 
the lack of bases with which the organic 
acids may combine. Until compara¬ 
tively recently little reference has been 
made to an injurious degree of acidity 
from such causes, in upland or well 
drained soils. That a dangerous degree 
of acidity may and often does exist in 
such soils is now well recognized. We 
have, however, been slozv to recognize 
this fact, and on this account, no doubt, 
we have often attributed the failure of 
crops to cold, poor germination of 
seeds, drought, excessive rains, attacks 
of insects or fungi, which should have 
been attributed to soil acidity. 
The formation of organic acids by the 
decomposition of organic materials in 
soils deficient in bases, would then seem 
to be a reasonable explanation, in part 
at least, for the existence of acid soils. 
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF AN ACID CON¬ 
DITION IN THE SOIL? 
« 
We cannot answer this question in 
full; we do not know. As the subject 
is further studied we shall know more. 
If I should say that it causes the wilt of 
the orange, I might be very wide of the 
mark, but on the other hand, no one 
can say absolutely that it does not cause 
this disease. We do, however, know 
some of the effects. We do know that 
it interferes with the processes of nitri¬ 
fication, and thus prevents the plant 
from getting certain food elements that 
it should have. We do know that in 
many instances clover, alfalfa, and other 
legumes, have failed almost entirely on 
acid soils, but have done well when the 
acid of these same soils has been neu¬ 
tralized with lime. 
IS LIME A SATISFACTORY CORRECTIVE ? 
Volumes could be written showing the 
beneficial results obtained by the use of 
lime on acid soils, but here it will only 
be necessary to make brief reference to 
a few instances. The experiments con¬ 
ducted by the Rhode Island Experiment 
Station have shown that something like 
thirty-one plants, including vegetables, 
grasses, fruit trees, etc., are benefited by 
the use of lime, while nine are indifferent 
to its use, and four are injured by it. The 
Maryland Experiment Station reports 
that most of the crops grown in that state 
are benefited by the application of lime, 
and includes one—Indian Corn—in the 
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