114 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 
manure, but it certainly makes our barn manures 
last two or three years longer than they do when we 
do not use lime.’’ The truth is that the presence in 
their soil of abundant carbonate of lime did two 
useful things—it stopped the leaching away of sol- 
uble nitrates and it promoted the development in 
their soil of the wonderful little organisms that can 
fix nitrogen in the soil, even without the aid of 
legumes, the azotobacter. Has any farmer failed to 
note that grass land, when full of carbonate of lime, 
gets stored full of nitrogen, even without the pres- 
ence of many clovers? That is the work, so scien- 
tists tell us, of these marvelous little azotobacter 
organisms. 
Carbonate of Lime Is Neutral—There is an old 
saying that has done more to harm agriculture 
throughout the English speaking world than any 
other known combination of words. It is this: ‘‘ Lime 
enriches the father and impoverishes the son.’’ 
This saying leads men to believe that lime is a 
stimulant, something that enables plants to forage 
more vigorously and thus more quickly rob the soil, 
or else that the lime sets free plant food. There is, 
of course, some truth in these assumptions if appled 
to burned lime. Burned lime does attack humus 
or any vegetable or organic compound. Used in ex- 
cess it may render soils temporarily barren. But 
carbonate of lime never injures soil in any way. It 
is a neutral thing; like sand it attacks nothing. Soil 
acids attack it; it welcomes the enemy and absorbs it 
into itself. Could we change that old saw to read, 
