202 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



of a bale of cotton to the acre, but by the annual ap- 

 plication of thirty bushels of such compost as we 

 have described, the yield has been increased to one 

 and a half bales per acre, and ten bushels of corn 

 have been increased fivefold. 



The use of lime is important in connection with 

 everything that has begun to be transformed and 

 needs quickening; the coarser the material the more 

 need of lime. Muck just dug from a pond or else- 

 where must be aerated for at least a year, and lime 

 helps greatly in transforming the mass. If already 

 slacked, lime can be spread on the soil in any con- 

 venient way, or dumped in heaps and spread with a 

 shovel. Where only small quantities of the un- 

 slacked are to be used, you can immerse it for a 

 moment in water before applying it. 



In what are called acid soils and those that con- 

 tain a great deal of humus there is little danger from 

 applying too much lime, but if applied in excessive 

 amounts it will injure plants directly and damage the 

 texture of the soil for growing future plants. This 

 damage will not last a long while, because the car- 

 bonic acid of the soil will neutralize it. However, 

 in your garden and orchard experiments you do not 

 wish to make mistakes. 



The experiment stations tell us that nearly all our 

 garden vegetables are benefited by liming, especially 

 lettuce, celery, onions, egg plant, asparagus, cabbage, 

 peas; when we go into the field lime is decidedly use- 

 ful for alfalfa and all the clovers, for barley and 



