RIGHT USE OF LIME IN SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



prosperous, or that a multitude of owners 

 of such lime-deficient areas as the belt in a 

 portion of southern New York and north- 

 ern Pennsylvania, or the sandstone and 

 shale regions of many states, have not over- 

 matched natural conditions with fine skill. 

 We treat only of averages when saying that 

 a "lime country" shows a prosperity in its 

 farm buildings and general appearance 

 that does not come naturally and easily to 

 any lime-deficient territory. In the latter 

 a man rows against the current, and if live- 

 stock farming is not employed to furnish 

 manure, and if the manure is not supple- 

 mented by tillage and drainage to secure 

 aeration, or if lime is not applied, the land 

 reaches such a degree of acidity that it loses 

 the power to yield any profit. 



Nature's Short Supply. The total area 

 of lime-deficient soil is large, comprising 

 certainly much more than half of all the 

 land east of the semi-arid belt of the United 

 States. No small part of this area was not 

 deficient at one time, as the nature of the 

 original timber indicates, and it is well 

 within the knowledge of practical men that 

 land which once produced the walnut and 

 ash and shellbark hickory can be brought 



