LIME AND ITS EFFECTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 303, 19 December 1912, Page 7

LIME AND ITS EFFECTS.

1 ■ . —xperiments with regard to the action of quicklime on the soil have shown that the addition of small quantities of quicklime to field and garden soils stimulates general hacterial growth, bnt large quantities cause an initial depression in the man-era of bacteria and the destruction of certain laTge protozoa, and a cessation of all biological processea. Conversion of the "toe from the can-tic form into the carbonate or combination with soil compounds is followed by a great increase in the numbers of bacteria and increased ammoi——cation of soil compounds. The length of the period during which bacterial growth is suspended would appear to be determined by the quantity of lime applied, the initial reaction of the soil, and the amount of organic matter pres><_t. Pot experiments have been carried ont with variously limed soils, and the crop results show dose agreement with those obtained by bacteriological and Chemical analysis.