253 MORE ABOUT 
FERTILIZERS 
slaked lime may be used, but both should be in 
as fine powdered form as possible before they 
are sown. 
Like every other fertilizer, lime is of no use 
until it is dissolved, and the finer it is ground 
before it is applied the further it may be spread 
and the sooner it will dissolve. It is seldom 
wise to apply more than from one-half ton to a 
ton of quick-lime per acre at any one time; 
and it is safer to apply this quantity every three 
or four years rather than larger quantities at 
shorter periods. Lime should be applied to 
the land when there is a crop upon it which can 
use it with advantage. A crop like clover or 
alfalfa, which covers the land completely, 
will make the best use of lime. It may injure 
potatoes, because it makes the land more favor- 
able for the growth of scab, a disease which 
attacks potatoes. 
Much money can be lost by the unwise use 
of fertilizers, and the best way one can posi- 
tively know whether it is wise to use them is 
to try it thus, say, with radishes, lettuce, or 
beans; a patch containing two or three rows 
may be fertilized in one way, the next one in 
another, others with various mixtures and, in 
order to determine the values of these it will be 
wise to leave untreated “check plats’? between 
