FRESH BURNED LIME 



easy that lime could displace the old 

 sources of plant food supplies. It became 

 the custom in some regions to apply 200 to 

 300 bushels per acre to stiff limestone soils 

 that had no lime deficiency, as a test for 

 acidity would have shown. The lime not 

 only made some mineral plant available, 

 but it attacked the organic matter of the 

 soil, making it ready for immediate use and 

 leaving the land deficient in humus. 

 Wherever stable manure and clover sods 

 were not freely used, the heavy application 

 of caustic lime was followed ultimately by 

 decline in productive power. Such prac- 

 tice has come under the condemnation of 

 people who have not seen that the ill results 

 have no relation to the rational use of lime. 

 What Lime Is. There is abundant evi- 

 dence that pulverized limestone, or lime 

 marl, or oystershell, or any other form of 

 carbonate of lime, corrects soil acidity and 

 helps to make a soil productive. It is good, 

 no matter whether nature mixed the lime 

 carbonate with clay, etc., to make a choice 

 limestone soil, or man applied it. Fresh 

 burned lime is only the stone after some 

 worthless matter has been driven off by use 

 of heat. The limestone, carbonate of lime, 



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