Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-07-23
Aaritaltnral department,
From the Land we Love

&Hk+kAk&Hk@A $*F"**"""*'
From the Land we Love.
LIME AS A FERTILIZER.
Having been frequently asked the value of lime
as fertilizer and requested to state its specific
uses in the economy Of the farm, propose to sum
up the best established practical results derived
from science, and confirmed by the experience of
the most judicious authorities on the subject.
Lime is substance Familiarity known to all our
farming communities, ard is everywhere valued
for its varied and important applications-so val
ued that some have regarded it ''the basis of all
good husbandry;" and even 80 excellent judge
as Prof Johnston declares it to be 'sthe most val
liable and most extensively used of all the mineral
substances that have ever been made available in
practical agriculture" A fertilizer that can claim
such high encomium from such source, deserves
to have its merits better understood-its nature,
its modes of action, its practical results more thor
oughly comprehended. We propose to con6ne
our remarks to such points only as are applicable
to carbonate of lime and its derivatives, such as
quick lime, slaked lime, &c
In the form in which it is usually offered in the
market, and in which, therefore, it is most gener-
ally available for the farmer, lime is caustic aka
H. burnt lime, and this caustic quality is the main
the skillful agriculturist The food we eat is not
in condition to nourish our bodies at it comes in
its crude state from the harvest feld-it must be
cooked, masticated, and even when swallowed it
cannot be taken up by the blood, and distributed
through the system for the nourishment OF our
bodies, till it has been acted on by the gastric and
other juices-it must be "digested." So with the
plant; its food, too must, in some sense, be cook
ed, masticated and digested before it can be taken
up and assimilated by the living organism, -,
Caustic lime is the cook that prepares the food,
and the gastric juice that digests the nourishment
for the plant. But while this digesting operation
ia, perhaps, in the great majority Of cases where
lime is artifciay applied, its most important func-
tion it must not be forgotten that this is not Its
only Office lime is not only the cook that prepares
tia to the nourishment Of the plant, entering into
its composition, constituting an important part OF
its inorganic elements besides performing other
valuable Offices to be discussed az we proceed.
There are FIVE modes Of action by which mineral
manures may profit the growing plant when ap-
piled to the soil.
lst. They may themselves become food for the
growing crop.
End. They may digest and prepare the food al
ready in the soil.
3rd. They may absorb gaseous fertilizers from
the atmosphere, and retain them for the future use
of the plant.
4th They may destroy or neutralize substances
in the soil which are poisonous or injurious to the
CROP :.
5th They may improve the mechanical condi-
ton Of the soil.
Some mineral manures perform one Of the off,
ces, and some another, but lime accompllshes them
all.
In regard to the first mode of action, chemical
ANALYSIS settles the question; it shows that lime is
present in the ashes of all our field crops and that
in some of them as clover, peas, turnips DC, it is
principal ingredient. Hence lime, if it be natu,
rally deficient, may be usefully added to the soil
simply as food for the crop, and, if wholly want,
ing, its addition becomes an absolute necessity, as
no crop could be matured without It.
In regard to the second point, lime may be con-
sidcred rs a specific the most important service
which it generally renders to the plant, when ap-
piled in large quantities, is the digestion and pre-
paration of other manures, which, though found
in the soil, are not in condition to be absorbed
by the roots, and thus made available Tor lmme-
diate use.
BY its caustic and alkaline properties, lime ia
ctates the decomposition of all vegetable and anil
NAL matters, liberating their nutritive elements,
and converting insoluble, into soluble compounds,
thus rendering them capable of being absorbed
and appropriated. ,,
Even the inert mineral masses of the soil do not
escape the digestive action Of lime: felspar and
other minerals containing the silicates Of potash
and soda, more readily surrender, in the presence;
of lime, their treasures of potash and soda; and
these alkalies in their turn help to convert the In
soluble into soluble silicates, and thus supply to
our cereals the elements that support their stems
enabling them to bear up against storm and WIND
it is the absence of this soluble silica, which lime
assists in digestng, that causes our grain crops e
fall to the ground before they are fully matured.
As to the third point, the absorption OF iertll;
zing elements from the air. lime both directly and
indirectly, by its own action, and by its pu!verl
ling effect upon compact soils, exerts highly
beneficial influence True, it does not, like plas
ter of Paris, absorb ammonia directly from the
atmosphere, but what is quite as much to TING
farmers interest, it converts the ammonia which
may be forming in the soil, into nitric acid, and
thus fixes its valuable elements so as to prevent
escape into the air. Moreover, we have the'high
est authority for saying that when organic matter
is decomposing, in the soil, ammonia is generated
by absorbing nitrogen from the air, and thus, as
we have seen that lime promotes. this decompos
tion, it promotes also the formation of these most
valuable manures from atmospheric elements.
In the fourth place, it is well known that lime
will counteract the injurious acids, both organic
and inorganic, which collect in damp soils where
much vegetable matter is decomposlng, and which
renders the land sour and unfavorabe to successful
cultivation. 1t is of the nature of an alkal, like
lime, to neutraize these acids and make these soul
lands sweet and mellow. Lime also decomposes
and counteracts the injurious sulphates OF iron, Of
magnesia, and of alumina, all of which sometime:
abound to the serious injury Of every variety o.
field crops, and often dsappoint the hopes or tht
industrious laborer. .
In the fifth place, that lime affects the mechani
cal constitution of the soil, would be naturally In
ferred from what we have seen of its power to de-
compose the earthly matters which contain the
valuable mineral elements of the soil.
Lime, by pulverizing the solid particles, render
the land more loose and friable, at the same time
that it Eberates the valuable stores of nutritious
matter locked up in them. By its chemical actor
| it makes stiff and heavy cays more light and por
Gus, while its mechanical effect is to render more
compact the texture of looser soils.
Lime is thus the busy agent OF the farmer, col
Ilectipp. pulrerizng, celebrating, digesting what
ever Il can find in air, earth or water, and dilligent
" exacting tribute alike from the animal vegeta
bic and mineral Kingdoms, for the use and supper
of the growing plant: it is not only itself food
but it also acts as digester, an absorber, neu
tralizer and a mechanical improver. What NOR MOI
could be expected from a single fertilizer? Thi
surely is great deal but it is not all.
Among the effects of lime Prof johnson enume
rates several particulars in which it modifes ever
the character of the vegetation. For instance, /
alters the natural production of the soil by its ten
dency to extirpate certain coarse grasses which in
fest some localities, and prevent the growth 0
richer and more nutritive kinds. ut kills, h
| COO, sheath moss and sour and benty grasses