82 AGRICULTURE OP MAINE. 



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LIMING AND CROP ROTATION. 



The point in a crop rotation where lime should be applied is 

 after and never before a potato crop. 



Lime should be introduced in short rotations before the crop 

 or crops most likely to be benefited by it. 



In long rotations the application may be divided into two parts, 

 provided if potatoes are not raised and crops are to be grown 

 in the middle and at the end which respond greatly to liming. 

 In such a case half of the total amount should be applied before 

 each of these two crops. 



It must be recognized that even ground limestone promotes a 

 reasonable amount of decay of vegetable matter. In fact, this 

 is just what is desired. In recognition of this, however, pro- 

 vision must be made, by the use of stable manures, green 

 manures, or by turning under heavy grass stubble, occasionally, 

 to replace or augment the supply of such organic material in 

 the soil. In this respect the short rotations often practiced in 

 Aroostook county, Maine, and in the Middle West where the 

 land is left in clover and timothy only one or rarely two seasons, 

 are far less calculated to maintain ideal conditions of tilth and 

 an abundance of humus than when redtop is also used, and when 

 the grass is top-dressed and allowed three years in which to 

 develop sod. 



LIMING OFTEN HASTENS CROP MATURITY. 



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If a soil becomes so acid as to be only partially suited to a 

 crop, its general development, the flowering, and the seeding 

 are usually delayed. The same result is noticed when a part 

 of a field is left without fertilizer, for the plants then seem to 

 delay similarly in the apparent effort to still get enough food 

 before the close of the season to fulfil their mission of abun- 

 dant seed or fruit production before they die. 



In some cases the writer has noticed that Indian corn matured 

 from a week to ten days earlier on a limed than on an unlimed 

 portion of the same field, a feature of great importance where 

 early autumn frosts occur. 



One of the most striking illustrations of this is afforded by 

 the onion crop. It will sometimes ripen two to three weeks 

 earlier and also give a much larger crop when lime is used. It 



