294 CROP GROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



But it is unfortunate, perhaps, that the same effect the lime has in sweet- 

 ening the soil for the bacteria that promotes the nitrogen collection of the 

 legumes, will also sweeten it for the growth of other and injurious fungi, and 

 hence it has' been found that an application of lime to a soil well filled with 

 decaying organic matter and planted in potatoes, will have the effect of pro- 

 moting the growth of the fungus that causes potato scab. Hence it is well to 

 avoid the direct application of lime to the potato crop. But if the lime is 

 used to promote a previous growth of clover it will not injuriously affect the 

 potatoes when planted on the clover sod. While most of the legumes are 

 benefited in their growth by an application of lime, the Southern cow pea is an 

 exception, and it seems to be injured rather than helped by the direct applica- 

 tion of lime. But after a crop of peas has been grown on the land, the ap- 

 plication of lime on the stubble will greatly aid in the work the peas do for 

 the succeeding crop. Therefore, in a rotation of corn, winter grain, peas 

 and cotton in the South the lime should always be applied on the small grain, 

 especially if a large amount of organic matter has been applied to the pre- 

 ceding corn crop, either by the turning under of a winter crop or the appli- 

 cation of the barnyard manures, or both. 



Quoting further from the same bulletin of the Ehode Island Station: 

 "Lime applied to stiff clays causes them to become more friable, more perme- 

 able to the air, easier of lillage and better capable of supplying water to plants 

 as needed. Sandy soils, on the other hand, are rendered by it more compact 

 and more retentive of water and fertilizers. On very dry, sandy soils smaller 

 applications of lime must be made than upon moist ones, and the use of large 

 quantities of lime upon such soils, in single applications is inadvisable. 



WHEN TO APPLY LIME. 



"For the reason that lime, while in its caustic state, is injurious to cer- 

 tain crops, and by lying in the soil its causticity is soon lost or materially de- 

 creased, it is evident that the ideal time to apply it would be in the autumn. 

 When autumn seeding is practiced, either with grass alone or in connection 

 with winter grain, the lime should be sown upon the furrows after plowing, 

 and then most thoroughly harrowed in, for the degree of benefit from liming 

 will depend to a great extent upon its even distribution and complete incor- 

 poration into the surface soil. Where seeding Indian corn fields to grass at 

 the last hoeing is practiced, as is common in the Connecticut Valley in Mass- 

 achusetts, it would be advisable to apply the lime in the manner outlined 

 above after plowing the land in the spring for the Indian corn crop. Under 

 other circumstances it is probably better not to lime just before Indian corn 



