CARBONATE OF LIME, 149 
supply. Thus on Woodland Farm, which 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. 
