110 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



moisture, and decaying vegetable matter is lost. There is liable 

 to be a great waste of fertility by drainage, and if a field that 

 has been kept stirred in fallow through a hot summer receives 

 a long, heavy, drenching rain in the fall before the crop has 

 started, it is possible for a large part of the liberated fertility to 

 be washed out and wasted. 



Commercial Manures. We consider under this head the 

 various fertilizing materials usually bought off the farm. 



LIME. This has been long in use for the improvement of 

 the soil. All crops contain lime, and yet it is difficult to imag- 

 ine that lime is valuable as a fertilizer, by supplying plant food, 

 for nearly all soils contain it far in excess of the needs of any 

 crop. But lime acts in improving the soil in a twofold manner. 

 On heavy clay lime is valuable, as it renders it more easily pul- 

 verized and less adhesive. This not only makes it more easy to 

 work, but enables the roots of plants to penetrate it more readily. 



Lime, also, has the effect of causing the decomposition of veg- 

 etable matter in the soil. Hence, when lime is added to soils 

 rich in vegetable matter, this is rapidly decomposed and ren- 

 dered useful. Lime, therefore, improves the soil by rendering 

 available the plant food it already contains, and it does this at 

 the expense of the humus. Hence has arisen the proverb : 



"Lime and lime without manure, 

 Will make both the farm and the farmer poor." 



There are instances where lime has been continuously used 

 for a long course of years without either green crops or barn- 

 yard manure, resulting in reducing the soil almost to sterility. 

 Properly used, however, lime is a valuable material for increas- 

 ing the fertility of the soil. Its chief use should be: 



1. On heavy clays to render them more easily worked. In this 

 case its application should be accompanied by green manuring 

 to avoid too greatly reducing the amount of humus in the soil. 



2. On soils rich in vegetable matter, which has but partially 

 decayed. It is specially valuable on reclaimed swamps and bogs. 



3. In connection with barn-yard or green manures to render 

 their action more prompt. When lime and barn-yard manure are 

 used in connection, the manure should be thoroughly mixed with 



