CARBONATE OF LIME. 121 
acids. Liming the surface makes alfalfa start off 
vigorously and make good growth for a year or a 
little longer, then it begins to decay, and will rarely 
live the second winter. In these soils the need is to 
study how best to get lime down into the subsoil, or 
at least down in direct contact with it. I suggest 
that one way to accomplish this is to apply lime very 
liberally to the top of the land before plowing, then 
to turn the land as deep as possible, turning at the 
same time the furrows as near as_ practicable 
squarely upside down. A better plan, but more la- 
borious, would be to distribute the lime in the bot- 
tom of each furrow as the land was plowed, turning 
it under by the next following furrow. This puts 
the lime in direct contact with the subsoil. Ifa sub- 
soil plow could now follow and open the underlying 
ground, which would let some of the lime drop into 
it, the work would be done in an ideal manner. 
Value of Liming.—It may make men in California 
or Colorado smile to read of any such laborious way 
of making land ready for alfalfa in the East. They 
need not scorn the eastern man nor his soil or 
methods. He has in truth better opportunity to 
make profit from alfalfa growing than they with 
their splendid soils, rich in lime and phosphorus, 
and their fine, sunny skies. The eastern man has 
advantage of splendid markets. His alfalfa when 
he gets it is worth to him at least $15 per ton, and 
if he is a dairyman or a stockman buying wheat bran 
at $25 per ton he can very nearly replace a ton of 
purchased bran with a ton of alfalfa hay grown 
