SOIL SESSION, 117 



of corn, oats, wheat and timothy, and the lime is being exhausted, and 

 it will eventually all be exhausted even from limestone soils. 



Gov. Colman: Have you tried phosphorus on clover land? 



Mr. Thorne : Yes, but we are not getting a good stand of clover. 

 There is not enough lime in an ordinary fertilizer to take the place of 

 the lime that has been exhausted from the soil. It is more economical 

 to buy the lime than to buy it in the fertilizer. The phosphorus rock 

 costs $8 a ton and lime only about $5, and where lime accomplishes the 

 same purpose it is best to use it. 



Dr. Waters : Before you leave the lime question, let me say in our 

 soil survey we have found one soil in Southern Missouri, known com- 

 monly as post oak flats, which shows a very little of Hme in the first ten 

 inches of soil ; and the subsoil shows only a trifle of lime. That soil will 

 have to be drilled for lime before it can be made to grow these legumes, 

 won't it ? 



Mr. Thorne : Yes ; clover is the chief crop to show the deficiency 

 of liinc. For a crop of clover it takes 50 pounds of lime ; for wheat 

 about 7 or 8 pounds. 



Gov. Colman : Is it possible to get too much lime in the soil ? 



Mr. Thorne : Yes, there is great danger of that. It is possible 

 to apply so much lime as to entirely efface the effect w^e wish to accomp- 

 lish and make the land unfit for cropping for some time. We are using 

 one ton of lime to the acre ; we have soil which requires twice that 

 amount — two tons to the acre. When we go beyond that amount, we 

 begin to see the opposite effect. 



Mr. : Do you apply lime before or after sowing the seed ? 



Mr. Thorne: As long before as possible. We have strong evi- 

 dence that the proximity of the lime to the seed is injurious, and we want 

 to keep them as far apart as we can. 



Dr. Waters : Before we plant the seed and before we cultivate the 

 land ? 



Mr. Thorne : Yes. 



Mr. : Where you put too much lime on the ground, how 



long will it take it to get over that ? 



Mr. Thorne : I know^ of an instance in our state where a man put 

 too much lime on his soil five or six years ago, and it is still in the same 

 condition as then ; has not recovered yet. 



Mr. : How do you remedy it? 



Mr. Thorne : By plowing deeper and putting on manure. 



Dr. Waters : The best plan is not to do it in the first place. 



Mr. Thorne: Yes. It is a waste of time and a waste of crop. 



