THE LIME TN SOILS 



percentage of lime that nothing more could 

 be desired. 



The actual percentage is not the deter- 

 mining factor, a clay soil needing greater 

 richness in this material than a loam, and a 

 sandy soil giving a good account of itself 

 with an even less total content of lime, but 

 in its way the particular soil type must be 

 well supplied by nature with lime if its 

 trees and other vegetation bear evidences of 

 its strength and good agricultural value. 



Natural Deficiency. It is interesting to 

 note the differences in evidences of pros- 

 perity that are associated with lime per- 

 centages. The areas that are able to pro- 

 duce the vegetation characteristic of cal- 

 careous soils are obviously the most pros- 

 perous. The decidedly lime-deficient sec- 

 tions, advertising their state by the kind of 

 original timber, and later by unfriendliness 

 to the clovers, do not attract buyers except 

 through relatively low prices for farms. 

 Such areas are extensive and have well 

 marked boundaries in places. 



It does not follow that every farm in such 

 limestone valleys as the Shenandoah, Cum- 

 berland, and Lebanon, or in the great corn 

 belt having a naturally calcareous soil, is 



