8 
ACTION OF LIME AS A MANURE. 
at from the chemical analysis, and if we eliminate the variations 
of less significance by taking the average of the results of the 
test of every 3 kinds of grain, we get the following figures : 
Content of crude 
Pressure to break 
Average of 
protein in the dry matter 
the grain, 
%• 
kilograms. 
No. 1—3 ... 
.8.78 
3-*5 
,, 4—6 ... 
. 9- 6 4 
3-43 
» 7—9 ••• 
.10.84 
4.16 
„ 10 —II... 
.11.60 
4 - 3 2 
There can be no doubt according to results so plain as these, 
•that the proportion of nitrogenous compounds plays an impor¬ 
tant part in the resistibility of the rice grains to pressure or 
impact. As brittleness is a consequence of overliming, and 
as the proportion of crude protein in rice depends, as we have 
shown in the preceding bulletin (No. 8, p. 25), upon the supply 
of nitrogen in the manure, it is obvious that large doses of lime 
applied every year must interfere in some way with the supply 
of nitrogen from the soil to the crop. How this is accom¬ 
plished has now to be considered. 
Paddy rice prefers, according to researches made in our 
college by the author and Mr. f. Sawano , ammonia as nitro¬ 
genous food, and does not thrive well, as long as it is irrigated, 
if supplied with nitrates alone. Moreover in the paddy fields 
while they are being irrigated, none of the nitrogenous manure 
is converted into nitrates, as we shall have to show further on, 
but ammoniacal compounds are generated from the decaying 
organic manures, and this ammonia is firmly retained by most 
soils, because it forms, with organic matters and double 
silicates, compounds which are but sparingly soluble in water. 
Lime, however, liberates ammonia from these compounds 
taking itself the place of the latter and favoring in this way 
the washing away of this nutrient by the irrigating water. On 
the other side, it accelerates the decay of the organic manures 
incorporated in the paddy field, as we shall likewise prove later 
