264 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



in your opinion, will be the most satisfactory under till- 

 age? 



7. Many soils contain acid, and so certain crops 

 such as clover and alfalfa will not grow well in them. 

 Bury a small piece of blue litmus paper, which you can 

 secure from the druggist, in moist soil obtained two or 

 three inches under the surface from different parts of 

 your field. Allow it to remain ^ve minutes. If the 

 paper turns red the soil is acid and needs lime. Use 

 this litmus paper test on the different fields of your farm. 



8. Is the manure on your home farm collected under 

 cover upon a water tight floor? What advantage has 

 this method over that of leaving manure in the barn 

 yard? 



9. What fertilizers are used on your farm ? How much 

 is applied per acre and what is the cost ? What is meant 

 by 8-3-3 fertilizer? 



10. Make a ball of wet clay and leave it to' dry. Make 

 another ball of clay mixed with sand and one of clay 

 mixed with a little lime. How do these three balls com- 

 pare ? What lesson do we learn from this experiment ? 



11. Fill two large pails or cans with moist soil. Shake 

 down well by jarring the vessel. Weigh each one and 

 place in a dry place for a week. Leave one undisturbed, 

 but keep a mulch on the other by stirring it well each 

 day to a depth of two inches. At the end of a week 

 Vr^eigh both pails. Which has lost the greater amount 

 of moisture? What lesson do we learn from this? 



Write to the Department of Agriculture, Washington, 

 D. C, for the following farmers' bulletins: No. 44; No. 

 187; No. 192; No. 245. 



