154 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



June, 1913 



sulphate, also report success. One 

 f^entlcman writes as follows: "Having 

 followed the instructions given to use 

 sulphate of iron and water (two pounds 

 of iron sulphate to a gallon of water), I 

 am pleased to say that at least seventy- 

 five per cent, of the dandelions have dis- 

 appeared, and I am now going after the 

 other twenty-five per cent." 



In our experiments here no permanent 

 harm was done to the grass. It looked 

 blackened and discolored just after the 

 spraying, but in a few days was as green 

 as ever. This spring the grass is 

 greener and more luxuriant on the 

 sprayed plots than on the unsprayed 

 plot. It is, however, noticeable that the 

 White Dutch Clover has almost entire- 

 ly disappeared from the sprayed plots. 

 This we hope to replace by reseeding 

 this spring. 



GIVE SPRAYING A TRIAL 



The results warrant giving spraying 

 with iron sulphate a trial on lawns that 

 are badly infested with dandelions. Pre- 

 pare a twenty per cent, solution of iron 

 sulphate by dissolving two pounds of 

 iron sulphate in each gallon of water. 

 Apply this solution with a hand sprayer 

 or a watering can with a very fine rose. 

 See that all the dandelions are thorough- 

 ly drenched with the solution. Rake off 

 the blackened leaves two or three days 

 after spraying and in dry weather, if 

 possible, thoroughly water the lawn. 

 Spray frequently enough during the sea- 

 son to prevent the dandelion leaves get- 

 ting a start. Six applications at least 

 will be necessary. Next season, in order 

 to fill up the spaces caused by the de- 

 struction of the dandelions, reseed with 

 pure lawn grass seed. Prepare the lawn 

 for reseeding by raking it over with a 

 coarse rake so as to stir the soil. Sow 

 the seed when the ground is moist, rake 

 it in well and roll. There is nothing 

 like a good thick stand of grass to keep 

 out dandelions and other weeds. 



Spraying with iron sulphate is not 

 very expensive. The iron sulphate may 

 be obtained retail at from two to three 

 cents a pound, or wholesale at a cent 

 a pound. Forty pounds of iron sulphate, 

 costing wholesale one cent a pound, will 

 make twenty gallons of the solution, 

 which is enough to spray at least one- 

 eighth of an acre, so that if a lawn this 

 size is sprayed six times during the sea- 

 son the cost for material will be only 

 two dollars and forty cents if the iron 

 sulphate is purchased wholesale 



The Use of Lime on the Farm 



After the cabbage worm enters the cab- 

 bage measures, such as the use of 

 pads, or lime, or sand sprinkled with 

 foul-smelling and repellling substances 

 will fail to destroy the larvae. You must 

 then use a carbolic emulsion, made by 

 making a regular kerosene emulsion, and 

 adding one-half pint of crude carbolic 

 acid to each barrel of the material. 



Prof. E. M. 



NOT so many years ago lime was 

 very popular with many farmers. 

 Nearly every farm in some sec- 

 tions was limed. In the same section* 

 at present, lime is not used. The popu- 

 larity of lime did not prove that lime was 

 profitably used in every case ; nor the 

 decline in its use that lime is no longer 

 necessary. From the number of ques- 

 tions the writer receives concerning the 

 use of lime it would seem that there is 

 a revival of interest in lime and liming. 



Such questions as "Which is the bet- 

 ter fertilizer, lime or ashes?" or "What 

 should I apply, lime or stable manure?" 

 would indicate that the problem is not 

 well understood. In some cases the 

 press has been responsible for extending 

 error regarding lime, by making state- 

 ments such as the following: "Lime is 

 Nature's best and most universal fer- 

 tilizer." 



IS NOT A FERTIUZEB 



Strictly speaking lime is not a fertil- 

 izer at all, and is not applied for such 

 purposes, for lime always exists in soils 

 in sufficient quantities to meet the im- 

 mediate needs of the crops. Therefore, 

 lime has no right to be compared with 

 fertilizers. The situation has been aptly 

 stated thus: "The use of lime without 

 manure will make the farm and farmer 

 poorer. " 



This is not intended to discourage the 

 use of lime. Production is often doubled 

 on a given area by its use through che- 

 mical, physical and biological action, but 

 not on all soils. We learn, very slowly, 

 that what is good for our neighbor's soil 

 may not be good for our's. Iron is an 

 excellent remedy for some human ills, 

 yet no physician would recommend it 

 for every man who is sick. Why, then, 

 should lime be the panacea for all sick 

 soils? 



Lime is used with great benefit for a 

 number of soil conditions, but not as a 

 fertilizer. Many soils are sour. Espe- 

 cially is this true of pworly drained soils. 

 Soils become sour largely from the for- 

 mation of humic acid, caused by the 

 breaking down of humus in the soil. 

 Peat and muck soils are usually acid, as 

 they are composed almost entirely of 

 plant remains in some stage of decom- 

 position. The character of the vegeta- 

 tion growing on a certain soil is some 

 indication of its degree of acidity. Abun- 

 dant growth of sorrel is a good indica- 

 tion of a sour soil, while the most of 

 our cultivated crops make sickly growth 

 or refuse to grow at all on such areas. 



Applications of fertilizers to such a 

 soil, before it has been sweetened, are of 

 no avail. To sweeten or neutralize the 

 acid present a base is necessary. Lime 

 is one of the cheapest, most available, 

 and best correcters of sour soils known, 



Straight 



and is used for this purpiose extensively. 



Many of the constituents of plants, 

 supplied in manures, are locked up in 

 soils in the form of insoluble compounds. 

 They constitute plant food, but plants 

 are unable to use them. The function 

 of lime is to unlock this food and make 

 it available for plant growth. It plants 

 take up this food, made available by 

 the lime, it follows that such a soil would 

 become constantly poorer, unless man- 

 ure were supplied in sufficient quantities 

 to meet the demands of the plant. 



Heavy clay soils are improved by 

 lime through the improved physical con- 

 dition. Lime causes soil particles to 

 flocculate, that is, to adhere to each 

 other in minute bundles. The effect of 

 liming such a soil is to cause it to be- 

 have afterwards as a coarse grained soil. 

 It becomes more open, porous, less like- 

 ly to bake and easy to work. 



Lime favors the multiplication and 

 activity of many forms of bacterial life, 

 especially those that live in tubercles on 

 roots of legumes. These bacteria are 

 all important to the growth of the clo- 

 vers, in that they have pwwer to take up 

 free nitrogen from the air. By favoring 

 the growth of the bacteria through lime, 

 we favor the growth of the clover. This 

 effect has been noticed by many who 

 have applied lime or ashes just before 

 seeding with clover. 



WHAT LIME DOES 



Lime is applied to correct acidity ; to 

 make available plant food already in the 

 soil ; to improve physical conditions, and 

 to favor the growth of certain soil bac- 

 teria. If soils are already right in these 

 particulars, applications of lime cannot 

 help them. 



Lime is purchased for the farm under 

 the names of quicklime, air-slaked lime, 

 hydrated lime, ground limestone, and 

 agricultural lime. All of these forms are 

 of some use agriculturally, but the com- 

 parative value of any one form may be 

 little or great. 



If a soil is sour, quicklime or hydrat- 

 ed lime is the form that should be used. 

 It being a base, acts quickly on the acid 

 and neutralizes it. Other forms of lime 

 cannot do this, for they are already neu- 

 tral. The other effects of lime may be 

 secured by lime in any form, if used in 

 sufficient quantities. Quicklime plus air 

 gives air-slaked lime ; quicklime plus 

 water gives hydrated lime, while agri- 

 cultural lime may be almost anything — 

 usually a mixture of air-slaked and 

 water-slaked lime and sometimes a per- 

 centage of ashes . 



It should be clear that if air-slaked 

 or water-slaked lime is used, much lar- 

 ger quantities should be used than quick- 

 lime. It is seldom profitable for farmers 

 to buy either air or water. 



