510 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



(3) The utilization of atmospheric nitrogen by certain of the 

 leguminous plants (notably the clovers), particularly upon sour 

 soils, is facilitated by the application of lime. 



Liming Sometimes Injurious. Excessive amounts of lime, 

 especially on light soils, may have an injurious action. This is par- 

 ticularly true of freshly slaked lime and of ground limestone upon 

 light sandy soils, which are inclined to be dry and which contain 

 only small amounts of organic matter. It hastens unduly the de- 

 composition of organic matter, and thus renders the soil more open 

 and less retentive of fertilizers and moisture than before. If either 

 ground burned lime or slaked lime must be used upon such soils it 

 should be applied in small amounts and at not too frequent intervals. 

 As stated heretofore, clay marls are much better adapted than other 

 forms of lime for the improvement of such soils. In lieu of such 

 marl either wood ashes or lime which has been exposed to the action 

 of the air for a long time is usually preferable to lime which has been 

 recently prepared. 



Before the advent of complete fertilizers it was a common adage 

 that liming makes rich fathers and poor sons. If lime is used alone 

 it serves to liberate potash, nitrogen, and sometimes phosphoric acid, 

 end often the extra drain of increased crops on the soil leaves it 

 finally in a worse condition than at the outset. In other cases the 

 soil reverts after many years to its former state of unproductiveness, 

 without appreciable injury. Continued success with lime can only 

 be assured by the use of other essential manurial substances in con- 

 nection with it. Few, if any, cases are on record where soils origi- 

 nally in need of lime have failed to continue to give good results from 

 liming when care has been taken to maintain a proper supply of the 

 other essential constituents and where lime has been applied in 

 moderate amounts. 



There are impure limestones which after burning yield material 

 that will harden like cement and which on this account may have 

 an injurious action upon the soil. If such limestone is pulverized 

 without burning it is capable of yielding good results. Dolomitic 

 (magnesian) limestone contains widely varying percentages of mag- 

 nesia and lime. Such stone, if containing high percentages of mag- 

 nesia, may sometimes prove objectionable if used exclusively. 



Should injury arise from the accumulation of an undue amount 

 of magnesia, this can be overcome by an application of ordinary 

 lime. Rather than to use magnesian lime successively upon the same 

 land it would be preferable to replace it frequently with lime con- 

 taining little or no magnesia. Notwithstanding what has been said, 

 the presence of some magnesia in lime is by no means objectionable, 

 and it may, on certain soils, prove positively beneficial. 



Plants Benefited by Liming. The following are some of the 

 plants which, in experiments on acid soil at the Rhode Island Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, have shown marked benefit from the 

 use of lime: Spinach, lettuce (all kinds), beets (all kinds), okra 

 (gumbo), salsify (vegetable oyster), celery, onion, parsnip, cauli- 

 flower, cucumber, .eggplant, cantaloupe, asparagus, kohl-rabi, cab- 



