Bulletin of the College of Agriculture Volume 1, Nos. 6-12 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 Excerpt: ... large quantities of lime, up to 300 kuwamme per tan,1 have been annually applied to rice in the paddy fields, and continue to be resorted to, in spite of conspicuous injury which is caused by this habit, and affects both soils and crops. Owing to the entrance of lime into the constitution of silicates and the presence of abundant moisture, the mineral particles of the soil are liable to be cemented together, either a few feet below the surface, as I had occasion to observe in the Miye prefecture near Yokkaichi, or on the surface itself, as M. Fesca1 reports from the prefecture ofChiba. Not only is the treatment and cultivation of the soil rendered difficult by this action of lime, but stagnation of water may follow as it is prevented from draining into the deeper layers. At the same time potash and ammonia are liberated by lime and are liable to be washed away by the irrigating water, whence the soil gradually impoverishes so much that in order to supply these essential nutrients to the rice crop, the Japanese farmer again decomposes in the subsequent season insoluble ingredients of the soil by repeating every year the dressing with lime, which he is even compelled sometimes to increase. He is quite aware of the fact that the same kind and quantity of manure which secured a satisfactory yield before he resorted to heavy doses of lime, no longer suffices for a good produce unless he applies lime too. He, moreover, knows that, if he discontinues the use of lime, he must supply his fields with a larger dose of more expensive manures, which his circumstances unfortunately do not generally permit. When in feudal times local governments prohibited the use of lime, the farmers tried to evade punishment by liming their fields in the night. Experience has long ago ...