The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-10-22
LIME AND SOIL.
The Mechanical Effects of Lime Upon
Clay or Fine Alluvial Soils.

Clay or Fine AIluvial Soils.
AS a rule men are given too much to
superficial reasoning and thinking.
Few take time to study any subject ex-
haustively. The question of the agri-
cultural value of lime, for instance, has
been specifically studied until many
farmers who have gwen attention to ii
have some general ideas about it. but a
very insufficient knowledge to found
good practice upon. Agriculture is a
complicated science, and is full OF ques-
lions which need to be studied from the
fundamental point of the principles In
volved in them, so that the principles
being understood good practice can be
based upon them. This is especially true
as regards lime. which is really one of
the most %variously effective of fertilizers.
and should therefore be studied
from many points of view We
have at times regarded it as a
direct plant food and as a chemical
agent. acting upon organic matter in the
soil and again as affecting the mineral
elements of the soil. One more point
should not be ignored, and this is its
mechanical action upon soils, both
sandy, fine alluvial and clay. Now we
are too much exercised about the chem
istry of soils. Farmers who read so
much about the chemical constituents
of a fertile soil are led to believe that
if the requisite proportions of these
needed elements are there nothing more
is required to produce maximum crops.
But we are often disappointed in this
respect. Again. farmers are too apt
being misled by old proverbs to the
effect that lime exhausts the soil. to
think and believe that the farmer who
uses lime in regular rotation nee every
five or six years is running his land and
using up the inheritance Of his children.
This is because the lime is considered
only from a chemical point of view.
| ignoring its value as direct plant food,
and not knowing or forgetting that its
able to crops.
open. 1t is too porous and admits the
suns heat too readily, and thus fails
greatly in dry and hot summers. But
when lime is applied to such a soil in
sufficient quantity its effect is to fill up
the vacancies or interstices in such a
soil and to make it more adherent, more
%retentive of moisture. and consequently
less receptive of heat during the day
and more r~etentive of warmth at night.
These are most important advantages
which should not be overlooked or neg.
lected by owners of light sandy lands.
But the mechanical effect of lime
upon clay lands and those fine alluvial
soils which are so apt to pack and be.
come solid and hard, aud especially
upon the alkaline soils of the plains and
Pacific coast, is yet more important. Il
an owner of such soil will test this
effect, he will be surprised to see how
great a change is made. Let him take
a small portion of such soil and agitate
it in a deep glass vessel, as a test tube
or a long, narrow bottle,-an arganG
lamp chimney closed at n end makes
a good tube for, this purpose and ther
drop into the clouded. muddy water
which remains upon settling a small
quantity of fine air-slacked. fresh lime
he will find that the small suspended
particles of soil coagulate into fakei
and cohere into masses which quickly
sink to the bottom. leaving the watel
clear. This same effect happens in the
soil of a field which has been dressed
with lime, and the result is hat the sol
is opened, made more porous and fria
BILE. If he takes some of the fine soil
mikes it with fine ~air-slacked lime, ane
leaves it to dry, he will find that it will
fall apart quite easily, while anothe,
sample will become harder and NOR
coherent as it dries, until it remains al
intractable clod.
To realize how useful this effect il
upon the soil is very easy. 1t is a gen
eral complaint that it is difficult to ploy
clay or fine alluvial soils in dr.
weather. An application of lime t
these soils greatly ameliorates these oh
~jectionable conditions ami renders thei
tillage much easier. 1t is thus seen hoy
t:llage is greatly helped by the admiz
ture of lime to all kinds of soils. simpl
by its mechanical eAeet.-M Y Tins: