CARBONATE OF LIME. 149 



supply. Thus on Woodland Farm, whicli is rapidly 

 becoming fertile — nearly as fertile, probably, as it 

 is profitable to make farm land — ^we find it wise each 

 year to purchase this one element, phosphorus. We 

 put it on when we start alfalfa. We put it on the 

 old alfalfa meadows. It pays largely in increased 

 yield' and in increased vigor of the plants. This 

 makes the alfalfa able to resist weeds and rust and 

 all the enemies of it. And once on the farm much 

 of the phosphorus is retained, is used over and over 

 again. When we cut the hay we take up phosphorus, 

 and if we were to sell the hay this would be drained 

 away and lost, but when we feed the hay on the 

 farm, as we try to do with most of our crop, we 

 sell away only as much phosphorus as is contained 

 in the wool and mutton of the lambs and in their 

 bones, and what goes to the manure is pretty care- 

 fully saved and put back on the land. Thus our 

 store increases steadily. 



