RIGHT USE OF LIME IN SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



vincing on this point. Nature tries con- 

 stantly to cure the ills of her soil through 

 the addition of vegetable matter. An excess 

 of water or a deficiency is atoned for in a 

 degree by the leaves and rotted wood of her 

 forests. Aeration is kept possible. The 

 lime in the product of the soil goes back to 

 it. A system of farming that involves the 

 application of manure, thorough tillage, 

 drainage where needed, and the free use of 

 sods in some way, has kept portions of these 

 non-calcareous soils out of the distinctly 

 acid class. Clover grows satisfactorily, 

 grass sods are heavy, and there is no acute 

 lime problem. Such farms are relatively 

 few in the great stretches of land now 

 classed as acid soil, and probably the most 

 of the lime that is being applied goes only 

 on ground that once was sufficiently alka- 

 line to grow the clovers. The loss of or- 

 ganic matter through failure to use the best 

 methods of farming is responsible for no 

 small part of the widespread need of lime 

 today. This subtracts nothing from the 

 urgency of its use to restore a condition 

 favoring clover and grass sods, but it does 

 teach a lesson of the highest value. The 

 day of destructive soil acidity can be re- 



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