THE LOSS OF LIME

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 14 July 1925, Page 9

THE LOSS OF LIME

MEANS OE EXHAUSTION

No soil can produce healthy and abundant- crops unless it contains an adequate supply of lime, and therefore the question of liming is one which should occupy the attention of all farmers. -V dressing of lime becomes exhausted in several ways: it is soluble io some extent, and is washed out by rams; this is proved by its presence in drainage water. From'a plot at Rothamsted as much as 2501 b. per acre, has been found in the gauge that catches drainage water. In addition to that source of loss, lime is used up when it acts on the soluble phosphate of superphosphate applied to the land; it has the valuable effectof causing the soluble phosphate to revert, and while precipitating in in a very fine, powder through the soil, it stives the phosphate from being washed away. And when sulphate nl ammonia is applied as a fertiliser, a portion of the lime in the soil combines with the acid of the nitrogenous fertiliser, and thus is no longer available. Un considering those ways of loss farmers will realise, that it is essential on most soils to apply every fpw years a dressing of lime to maintain fertility.