ACTION OF I.IME AS A MANURE. 
5 
we found in the grain produced on a plot supplied with 
phosphatic and potassic manure, but with no nitrogenous 
fertilizers, the content to be 10.71% of the dry matter. 1 Pur¬ 
suing our investigations in this line we determined the crude 
protein also in the four other specimens and found the following 
contents : 
No. 2 
No. 3 
No. 4 
No. 5 
Moisture . 
16.18 % 
16.38 
16.16 
i6 -35 
Crude protein in the 
dry matter. 
8.76 
9.06 
8-54 
10.12 
We must confess that 
we did not expect 
to find 
so simple an 
explanation of the brittle condition of overlimed rice, but had 
cherished the idea that something in the composition of the ash 
or in the proportion of carbohydrates would give us a clue to 
the elucidation of this peculiar action of lime. We were 
accordingly surprised to meet in the case of rice with a fact 
which has already been justly maintained to be the reason for 
the glassy or mealy condition of barley and wheat, which also 
differ only in their content in nitrogenous compounds, the 
mealy grains being poorer in them than the glassy or horny 
ones. But with regard to these cereals, overliming has never 
been noticed as the cause of their mealy condition. Large 
doses of nitrogenous manures are known to increase the pro¬ 
portion of horny grains in the case of barley and wheat, but, 
opposed to the case of rice, this property deteriorates their 
value, because glassy barley produces a sort of malt which, 
in beer brewing, resists saccharification and yields an insuffi¬ 
cient amount of carbohydrates in the mash ; and the glassy 
condition of wheat interferes with the porosity of the bread 
made from it. 
For the sake of reference the following results obtained in an 
4 The compilations of analyses of human foods or agricultural products do 
not yield proper information on this point, as in them cleaned and uncleaned 
rice has been indiscriminately mixed up. (Compare I. König, Zusammenset¬ 
zung der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel, 3. Aufl., 1889, p. 
56g). 
