1 Oor., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 237 
Tf lime is to be applied to the soil in excess of what is actually required as 
a plant food, care must be taken thatit has got something to work upon, either 
a strong clay or soil over-loaded with humus. It can be safely used to 
advantage on newly drained swampy land, and also on newly cleared forest 
land of the “black soil flat” type. Its effect on the aboyenamed class of soils 
is to render them more porous and open, removing in a large degree the 
adhesive sticky nature when wet, and making them more friable when dry. This 
condition being brought about, thorough cultivation can then be practised, 
ultimately resulting in the land being brought from alow to a high state of 
fertility. , 
Ih correction for sour lands is well known. Being strongly alkaline, it 
neutralises acidity, thus ridding soils of deleterious matter harmful to plant life. 
Lime is also a great assistance to drainage—in fact, I have seen cases 
where lime in itself proved a means of drainage. This was on a field of stiff 
clay, on the surface of which water used to lie for some considerable time after 
heavy rains. Plots in various parts of this field were limed, and on those the 
effect was most marked, for after rains no water was seen to lie on their 
surface, but on the unlimed parts the water remained as before. Another 
highly important function of lime is the favouring of the development of 
nitrification in the soil. Nitrification is an action of micro-organisms in the 
soil which act upon nitrogenous matters, converting them into nitric acid—a very 
valuable plant food. A. certain amount of alkalinety is required for their 
development, and the presence of carbonate of lime in the soil furnishes this 
necessity. 
Lime and phosphate powders containing caustic lime may be safely mixed 
with all potash manures, nitrate of soda, nitrate of potash, bones in any form 
(except dissolved bones), mineral phosphatic manures (except superphosphate). 
Neither caustic, slaked lime, nor phosphatic slags, which contain caustic lime, 
should be mixed with sulphate of ammonia, guano, or any animal or vegetable 
- matters yielding ammonia, because the lime would take up the sulphuric acid of 
sulphate of ammonia and the carbonic acid of the decaying animal and vegetable 
matter, setting free the ammonia which these things contain. 
As to slaking and mode of application, the common practice is to spread 
the lime in small heaps and cover up with soil. Providing there is a like 
moisture in the soil, the lime will in a few days be sufficiently slaked to allow 
of its being spread with a shovel. There is, however, a little risk attached to 
this method, for, should heavy rains ensue before spreading, the lime will be 
converted into a paste, difficult to distribute, and, moreover, less powerful in its 
effects. Another and perhaps safer way is to tip in a long heap adjacent 
to water and slake, then distribute by means of a dray, one hand leading the 
horse at a slow pace, another standing on the dray spreading with shovel. By 
working in this fashion—against the breeze—very little discomfort is felt. To 
keep the fine dust from lodging on the horse’s skin, a cover of some sort should 
be put on—say a couple of bags under the harness. 
Numbers of experiments are being carried out at the Biggenden State 
Farm, with a view to testing its effects on the soil, which varies from dark 
basaltic to sticky cement. Owing to the drought, no complete data are yet 
available, but its beneficial effect on a row of rosellas is easily to be seen. Of 
a row of twenty plants only half were limed, the application being at a rate of 
2 tons per acre. In the no-lime lot, four out of the ten have died owing to the 
dry weather, and other two look sick. Amongst those limed, only one shows signs 
of dying, all the others looking remarkably healthy. At the time of writing 
only the first picking of fruit has been taken; the returns being, respectively 
—unlimed, 8 lb.; limed, 22 Ib. 
The land on which the rosellas are being grown is of a very stiff nature. 
On removing the loose cultivated soil from around the dead bushes, cracks were 
found, which, no doubt, severed the roots, thus causing death to the plant. 
The action of lime on this soil has undoubtedly been to keep it more loose 
and friable, preventing cracking, and thus better able to conserve the moisture. 
