August 1, 1908 
THE TORCHON LA 
MR A, BROWN'S § 
yy plow 
I'he Harm, 
Utilising Alkali Patches. 
ALLION, ‘Sr. ELMO.” 
In some parts of the State there are. 
in the midst of the rich fertile black soil 
lands, patchas of alkali soil, on which it 
was once believed that nothing would 
thrive. Such isolated areas existed on 
lands near Warwick, and the manager of 
the State farm, the Hermitage—then Mr. 
Chas. Ross, now managing Westbrook 
State Farm—set to work to remedy the. 
evil. His experiments met with complete 
success, and yet the remedy was so simple 
that it is remarkable nobody had thought 
of it before. He knew that there were 
certain plants which could absorb a large 
amount of alkali. and especially amongst 
them he included mangolds and the silver 
beet. These grew to perfection on the 
alkali patches, and removed so much of 
the salt that in time the land was ren- 
dered fit for wheat, lucerne, and other 
grasses. Lucerne, it was found, also 
thrives on the alkali after mangolds, or 
at once, provided the surface be fairly 
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free from alkali: Under such conditions 
the seed germinated, and the roots made 
their way to a considerable depth below 
the alkali strata, and thence drew ample 
nourishment for the plant. On the other 
hand, whilst magnificent cabbages, cauli- 
flowers, and other vegetables were grown 
on the farm, they were a failure on the 
alkaline spots, as. were all other legumes. 
It is ssid that asparagus will do well on 
such land, being alkali-resistant. This 
plant was, we believe, not experimented 
with.—Queensland Agricultural Journal. 
Ground Lime v. Ground 
_ Limestone. 
In recent years the common practice of 
applying heavy dressings of quicklime to 
the soil has fallen into disuse. The idea 
underlying that practice was to thake 
provision against ‘lime-hunger’ for a 
good number of years. But if there be 
one thing which has been more clearly 
proved than another by the agricultural 
experiments of recent years, it is the fact 
that heavy dressings of quicklime were 
unprofitable, For one thing the quick- 
lime when applied in large qnantities, 
killed off a large proportion of the nitri- 
fying end other advantageous soil bacteria. 
For another thing, lime sinks rapidly in 
the soil, and through the action of rain 
water it is carried into’ the drains or the 
subsoil, so that asa rule it is soon beyond 
the reach of the plants. In recent years 
the much more rational plan of applying 
small dressings of ground quicklime has 
been introduced, and has generally given 
very satisfactory results, particularly in 
soils which were rich in organic matter. 
This ground quicklime was applied in 
116 KING WILLIAM STREET, ADELAIDE. 
GE & MERCANTILE ACENCY. 
dressings of up to 20 cwt. per acre, and 
this small quantity was readily utilised 
by the soil bacteria for the use of the 
growing crop. Lime is an essential ele- 
ment of plant food, and every crop grown 
on any soil removes more or less lime 
from that soil. In the case of soils in- 
fected with the germ of the finger and- 
toe disease, the ground quicklime, which 
can be very equally distributed over the- 
soil, may be used to kill these malign 
germs, and induce a healthy growth of 
crop, particularly when the lime is but- 
tressed with potash, and no acid manures 
are used in dressing the soil. Ii is a 
curious fact, however, that quicklime, 
whether ground or in the ‘shell’ form, 
is produced from limestone—a hard rock 
in which the carbon dioxide of composi- 
tion is driven off by burning, and that 
the quicklime, on being exposed to the 
air, absorbs this same gas, and is again 
converted to carbonate of lime. These 
facts have raised the question as to 
whether the ground limestone rock might 
not be ground to a fine state of division 
and applied to the soil just as quicklime 
is. This question has been dealt with. 
experimentally by the staff of the Lan- 
cashire County. Council, who have issued 
a report of experiments on the subject by 
Mr. Edward Porter, B.Sc., and Mr. R. C. 
Gaut, B.Sc. The report states that quick- 
lime in the ‘shell’ form and also in the 
form of ground lime were tested against 
limestone which had been ground to a 
fine state of division. Quicklime, on re- — 
absorbing the carbon dioxide and revert- 
ing to the carbonate form, increases greatly 
in bulk, so that 1 ton of it will weigh 
when converted into carbonate of lime. 
12 ton. One ton of ‘shell’ lime, therefore, 
was tested against 1 ton of ground limes 
