5. It is said to exhaust the soil, but it does so in a very desirable manner, the injurious effects of which may be easily avoided.
How does lime correct them?
How does it affect animal manures in the soil?
1. The decomposition of organic matter in the soil, often produces acids which makes the land sour, and cause it to produce sorrel and other weeds, which interfere with the healthy growth of crops. Lime is an alkali, and if applied to soils suffering from sourness, it will unite with the acids, and neutralize them, so that they will no longer be injurious.
2. We have before stated that lime is a decomposing agent, and hastens the rotting of muck and other organic matter. It has the same effect on the organic parts of the soil, and causes them to be resolved into the gases and minerals of which they are formed. It has this effect, especially, on organic matters containing nitrogen, causing them to throw off ammonia; consequently, it liberates this gas from the animal manures in the soil.
3. Various inorganic compounds in the soil are so affected by lime, that they lose their power of holding together, and crumble, or are reduced to finer particles, while some of their constituents are rendered soluble. One way in which this is accomplished is by the action of the lime on the silica contained in these compounds, forming the silicate of lime. This crumbling effect improves the mechanical as well as the chemical condition of the soil.
4. We are now enabled to see how lime prepares the constituents of the soil for the use of plants.
Inorganic compounds?
How does lime prepare the constituents of the soil for use?
What can you say of the remark that lime exhausts the organic matter in the soil?