LIMING THE SOIL 375 



lime, especially the slaked and ground burned forms, tends to 

 ball badly and thus thorough distribution is prevented. 



A lime distributer should be used, especially if the amount 

 to be applied is at all large. A manure-spreader can be util- 

 ized and even an end-gate seeder may be pressed into service. 

 Small amounts of lime may be distributed by means of the 

 fertilizer attachment on a grain drill. As with the applica- 

 tion of any material, the evenness of distribution is as im- 

 portant as the form and amount of lime used and should by no 

 means be neglected. 



A discussion of the application of lime is never complete 

 without some consideration being given to the place in the 

 rotation at which the liming is best done. In a rotation of 

 maize, oats, wheat, and two years of clover and timothy, the 

 lime is often applied when the wheat is seeded in the fall. It 

 can then be spread on the plowed ground and worked in as 

 the seed-bed is prepared. Its effect is thus especially favor- 

 able on the new seeding. Thorne ^ has shown, however, in 

 certain Ohio experiments, that maize is affected more favor- 

 ably than any of the crops above mentioned and as the money 

 value of this increase is practically as much as that from the 

 hay, he favo^ applying the lime to the maize. With pota- 

 toes in the rotation, the lime should follow the potato crop, 

 especially if scab is prevalent. In practice the place of lime 

 in the rotation is usually determined by expediency, since the 

 vital consideration is, after all, the application of lime regu- 

 larly and in conjunction with a rational rotation of some kind. 



205. The calcium and magnesium ratio. — ^A physiological 

 balance seems to be necessary in a nutrient solution in con- 

 tact with a normally growing plant. This balance varies with 

 the plant and with numerous other conditions. The reason 

 for such antagonistic action between the ions of certain ele- 

 ments is difficult to explain and many theories have been ad- 



^ Thome, C. E., The Maintenance of Fertility. Liming tJie La/nd; 

 Ohio Agr. Exp. Sta., Bui. 279, 1914. 



