AMELIORATION OF LAND 93 



finger-and-toe. While this disease can be 

 checked to a considerable extent by rational 

 methods of cultivation, there is no doubt 

 that the most effective method of controlling 

 it is through the agency of periodic dressings 

 of lime at the rate of about 5 tons per acre. 

 When, however, the cost of the material, 

 and the expenses of carting and spreading, are 

 taken into account, a dressing of 5 tons per 

 acre represents an outlay of not much less 

 than as many pounds, and such an outlay is 

 more than most land can bear in the present 

 condition of the agricultural markets. There 

 has therefore been a tendency of recent years to 

 rely more on the effects of dressings of 20 to 

 30 cwt. of ground lime, costing, with labour, 

 about 2 per acre. While it cannot be con- 

 tended that a small dressing of ground lime is 

 as effective as three or four times this quantity 

 of ordinary burned lime, still, as a preventive 

 rather than a curative measure, it is probable 

 that the use of this newer form of lime is 

 justified. Not only does lime counteract 

 finger-and-toe through making the soil alka- 

 line, but it also facilitates nitrification, and 

 supplies a necessary element of plant food, 

 so that several advantages are attendant 

 on its use. Buyers, however, have to be more 

 on their guard in the purchase of ground lime 



