CARBONATE OF LIME. 113 



writer, once remarked that "Never yet was found 

 an abandoned farm in America tlmt had in its soil 

 anything like a sufficiency of carbonate of lime." 



Evidence of Lime. — It is easy to note the evidence 

 of lime. Soils rich in it naturally cover with grass, 

 which stops erosion, therefore the hills are smooth 

 and rounded; roadsides are carpeted with grass as 

 though seeded by some maker of lawns ; animals 

 stand tranquil and content in pastures filled with nu- 

 tritious forage; horses grown on soils rich in lime 

 have fine forms and much life and spirit; boys and 

 girls have good teeth and strong bones; in fact 

 nearly all agricultural joy centers around the abun- 

 dance of carbonate of lime in the soil. 



Add Limestone. — If you have not enough lime in 

 your soil get it. It is a thing fairly permanent in 

 itself. The rain leaches it away, the soil acids 

 dissolve it. We do not know yet just how fast 

 these processes accomplish their object, yet it is not 

 probably so very rapid. AVlien you put a ton of 

 limestone in your soil it lasts till it has been dis- 

 solved by the rain or made inert by soil acids. If 

 you put in enough lime your sons will have its bene- 

 fits. With it you can set about soil building in good 

 courage. With lime enough you can grow clovers, 

 grow alfalfa, grow the best grasses. What fertility 

 you add throngli stable manures will not leach away. 

 A good German farmer in western Maryland re- 

 marked one day as he spoke of the large amounts of 

 lime they were burning to apply to their fields: 

 "Yes, Mr. Wing, it may be true that lime is not 



