66 BULLETIN" 355, U, S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



material, original cost, fineness, freight, distance to haul, condition 

 of roads, and handling. 



When 100 pounds of pure limestone is burned it gives 56 pounds 

 of quicklime, which, when slaked with water, will give 74 pounds of 

 hydrated lime. Hence, for neutralizing acidity, 56 pounds of burned 

 lime is equal to 100 pounds of limestone or 74 pounds of slaked lime. 

 Relatively speaking, the application of 1 ton per acre of burned lime 

 would be equivalent to the use of IJ tons per acre of slaked lime, or 

 2 tons per acre of finely ground limestone. On average acid soils 

 such an application is ample for from tliree to five years, at the end 

 of which time it might be advisable to use one-half the amount of 

 the previous application. When Hmestone is used it should be 

 comparatively fine, and it might prove in many cases more practical, 

 and eventually more economical, to apply a larger quantity per acre 

 than above noted at correspondingly longer periods of time. Where 

 Hme in any form is used for alfalfa, which commonly occupies the 

 land from six to eight years, liberal applications are necessary. In a 

 short rotation, where potatoes is one of the crops, it is advisable to 

 make light applications of lime and to add the material during each 

 cycle of the rotation following the harvest of the potato crop. 



Lime may be applied at any season of the year when its use is 

 convenient. It should be mixed with the soil as thoroughly as pos- 

 sible. For this reason it is better not to plow the lime under, but to 

 apply it after plowing, following with the disk or other harrow. If 

 appHed just ahead of a tilled crop, such as com, the cultivation of 

 the crop will aid in mixing the lime into the soil. In a distinctly 

 acid soil, where red clover is one crop of the rotation, it is well to 

 apply the lime in preparing for the crop preceding the red clover. 

 Surface application on grass land will give some benefit, but not so 

 much as where the lime can be more thoroughly incorporated with 

 the soil. 



The application of lime by hand with a shovel is tedious, and it 

 can not be spread very evenly in this manner. The fertilizer attach- 

 ment of a grain drill will sow lime when it is granular and not damp, 

 but will spread not more than one-half ton to the acre. It is a com- 

 mon practice to use a manure spreader for this purpose, placing a layer 

 of litter upon the table before loading the lime. Moreover, where 

 the use of some form of lime is an established practice on the farm, 

 a lime distributer wiU prove a good investment. There are several 

 kinds of these on the market. Satisfactory homemade distributers 

 have been built by using the wheels from a laid-by mowing machine 

 and constructing a box and the feeding apparatus. 



Other benefits from the use of Z-ime.^Besides correcting acidity, lime 

 causes other benefits in the soil, the principal of w^hich are (1) the im- 

 provement of the physical condition, especially of clays; (2) the im- 



