Soils and Fertilizers for Vegetables 



1303 



Lime for Vegetables 



The importance of using- lime to neutralize soil acidity in con- 

 nection with vegetable growing has been pretty generally over- 

 looked until the last few years. The majority of vegetables com- 

 monly grown are very sensitive to an acid soil and some of them ■ — 

 notably beets, spinach, muskmelons — can scarcely be grown with 

 success unless a fair amount of lime carbonate is present. The 

 following is a list of vegetables, all of which are known from actual 

 field tests to give much better yields when the soil contains a fair 

 amount of lime carbonate than when it is deficient in that 

 material : 



asparagus 



cucumbers 



parsnip 



beets 



dandelion 



peas 



brussels sprouts 



egg plant 



pumpkin 



broccoli 



endive 



salsify 



cabbage 



horse radish 



spinach 



carrots 



kale 



squash 



celery 



kohlrabi 



sunflower 



chard 



lettuce 



sweet corn 



chicory 



lentils 



tomato 



collards 



muskmelon 



turnip 



cress 



onion 



Many other vegetables may also be benefited by lime, but full 

 data is not obtainable on the subject at present. 



Objection has arisen to the use of lime on potato land since it, 

 as any other material which tends to neutralize soil acidity, pro- 

 vides conditions more favorable to the development of potato 

 scab. But potatoes are grown very successfully on land contain- 

 ing liberal amounts of lime, and the Rhode Island Experiment 

 Station has shown that the use of lime on land that is acid will 

 increase somewhat the yield of potatoes and particularly the per- 

 centage of large potatoes. Considering this and also that other 

 crops particularly in need of lime will be grown in rotation with 

 potatoes, it is doubtful if it is ever profitable to omit the liming 

 of potato land that is acid simply to make it easier to combat 

 potato scab. 



A very large percentage of the sandy and loam soils in this 



