A Study of the Effects of an Excessive Ratio of Lime to Magnesia Upon Plant Growth

[From the Introduction, Abbreviated]

For centuries the beneficial effects derived from the agricultural use of lime have been known, its use being common among the chinese long before the Christian era. Pliny, writing more than two thousand years ago, described the use of chalk by Roman farmers. In some parts of England and Western Europe lime has long been regarded as next to manure as a fertilizer. Although the use of lime in this country was recorded and recommended by Johnston, more than a hundred years ago, only during the more recent years has the subject of liming been investigated by scientific experiments and its relation to different phases of crop production carefully studied. The beneficial effects of lime treatments were at first attributed to the value of the element calcium as a plant food, and were not regarded as a means of amelioration of unfavorable soil conditions.