CARBONATE OF LIME. 117 



Crab grass had choked out the feeble growth. Mr. 

 McDonald was a stubborn man and had seen alfalfa 

 grow in South America. He was determined to 

 grow it on Idlehour. Suspecting that lime was the 

 thing needed, he burned a lot of it on his own place 

 and applied it with a manure spreader. His aim 

 was to apply about two tons to the acre. In many 

 parts he applied at least double that amount. 

 Wherever the manure spreader dropped the lime 

 the alfalfa grew luxuriantly and the crab grass, was 

 vanquished. I could not but marvel as I drove 

 through this wonderful alfalfa. It was the twenty- 

 fourth day of July and the alfalfa stood above the 

 axles of the carriage and was ready to be mown, the 

 third crop for the season. There was hardly a bit of 

 grass or any weeds in the alfalfa. To show that the 

 lime had done the work, one could see where the 

 man driving the spreader had left strips here and 

 there without lime. In these strips was hardly any 

 alfalfa, and it was little, feeble stuff, while just be- 

 side it, where the lime had been applied, it stood up 

 like a wall. 



Crab Grass and Lime. It seems true that crab 

 grass, that arch enemy of alfalfa in the south, is 

 easily vanquished by use of a goodly amount of 

 lime. I have enough evidence of this to believe that 

 it may be laid down as a law that lime will cure crab 

 grass in alfalfa. It is not probable that the lime 

 destroys the crab grass, or is particularly injurious 

 to it, but it so helps the alfalfa that it springs into 

 quick growth and gets the start of the grass. Hardly 



