504 



STATE BOARD. OF AGRICULTURE. 



fingers are moist with perspiration as this will redden it. Only soft 

 water should be used to moisten the soil. 



Treating the soil with muriatic acid and noting if bubbling occurs is 

 recommended as a test for an excess of lime but not necessarily a de- 

 ficiency of lime. No gas may be given off from a soil and yet the growth 

 of crops on the soil may not be increased for several years by the use of 

 lime. 



The nature of the growth of plants on a soil is a good indication of its 

 need of lime. JFailure or poor growth of clover, alfalfa and sweet clover 

 is very often due to lack of lime. A medium stand of these crops in 

 many cases would have been much improved had lime been applied 



Figure 6. Lime in the Soil is Essential to Good Stands of Sweet Clover and Alfalfa. 



If this Kent county fiirnior liad covered his field with marl he would have had an abundance 



of hay. 



while preparing the ground before the seeding. Some plants such as 

 sorrel are able to grow in soils deficient in lime, and hence subsist where 

 more sensitive ones fail. For this reason the presence of much sorrel 

 is considered an indication of a sour soil. 



As pointed out on another page of this bulletin most farm crops are 

 favored by the presence of an abundance of lime in the soils, the effect 

 being especially noticeable on alfalfa and sweet clover. Consequently 

 the most satisfactory method of determining the lime needs is to apply 

 soine form of lime in different amounts and carefully note the results ob- 

 tained. If ground limestone is used the trial applications should vary 

 in amount from one to three or four tons per acre. If the hydrate is 

 employed strips of land should receive amounts ranging from one-fourth 

 to one ton per acre. 



