The 17‐year growth response of a 45‐year‐old jack pine (Pinus bariksianaLamb.) forest on an acid brunisolic soil to applications of 224 and 448 kg Ca ha‐1(560 and 1120 kg ha‐1of CaCO3) in 1970 was examined. Increases in the level of exchangeable Ca and pH and decreases in exchangeable acidity, in relation to untreated soil, suggest that liming had a modest long‐lasting effect on base saturation of the forest humus. Liming produced significant increases in the amount of ammonium contained and mineralized in humus layers and the Bm1horizon after 15 years, but no changes in the bulk of the mineral soil N were detected. Liming had a negligible effect on nitrification in the soil. It had no effect on pine growth nor did the treatment significantly influence the N concentration in foliage collected prior to the growing season of 1987. The results suggest that in N‐limited jack pine forests, lime‐stimulated N turnover is not sufficient to produce a growth response to N by the trees.