LIME.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 447, 13 March 1912, Page 3

LIME.

In most soils there is a sufficiency of or plant food; but it has a distinct and beneficial effect on the soil. Chemically, it helps to set free desirable bases, and biologically it increases the number of ferments, so that the land is rendered less acid. A generation ago it was the practice to apply very heavy dressings of lime —even as much as nine tons to the acre being used. Thi3 was not only extravagant, but showed want of knowledge. YVith time it is far better to apply much less in several [dressings; or so long as land could be heavily dressed with farmyard manure, it would not be unprofitable to appiy these heavy drssings. But under ordinary conditions these heavy dressings of lime tend to draw the organic matter out of the land, and so spoil it. According to the best practice, we do not apply two tons to the acre of lime as slaked lime. It is in the form of grounds quicklime that it is now applied being sown in small quantities with the drill with every crop; from five to ten cwt. are thus applied. It i 3 some years now since dressings of quicklime were largely used in South and Central Otago, entirely altering the appearance and value of the light land there. The result of this was that the railways will carry lime for the first 100 miles free of charge, believing that they will eventually gain in the return of crops, etc.

Lime makes the land work more freely, and increases granulation. On clay lands it makes them less retentive of water. Lime helpg to bring potash into a soluble state, it neutralises acidity, and oxidises certain substances, such as iron pyrites, rendering their effects less harmful. Land dressed with iime cracks less freely, and it helps to break down stiff clods, so that a tilth can be obtained without it Retting too«hard. Lime is frequently of great benefit used as a top-dressing for grasses. The character of the vegetation is improved, and the pasture is rendered more healthy Applied to grasses, it is necessary that it should be thoroughly well slaked before application. Cart the lime to the head of the paddock in a heap, allow it to slake, and then apply or drill it with an old drill modified in order to apply it. This is beat done in autumn, during winter, or in the early spring. It helps to lessen the grubs. "Fin-ger-and-toe" disease of turnips is reduced. The fungus is left in the ground in the diseased shells, and remains till the next time turnips are grown. To escape this effect, the land should be dressed with two tons of lime to the acre. This tends to kill the fungus, rendering the land clean. If regularly used, five to seven cwts. with the different crops is the best method of application, so that the land gets frequent dressings. It goes through with the seed in the drill, or may be broadcasted on the land and harrowed in. It is better to apply lime after the seed bed is nearly pre pared, and not before ploughing. Lime tends to sink in the soil, being carried down in the form of a soluble bicarbonate, when it changes to the carbonate again, and so is gradually washed lower, and deposited in the lower layers of the soil. For the turnip crop grown on regularly manured land, an occasional dressing of ground quicklime is found to increase the yield. On beans it will often be unprofitable to apply the same form of pressing, not as manure, but in order to set free residues of manures that have been applied.