Scin i / if! i ■ A flvicultuve 



it move- quickly available to plants. The indirect result, therefore, is to help the 

 plant to draw more potash, pljoaphoric aeid, etci, from the soil than would othei'T 

 wise be possible. 



(3) The utilization of atmospheric nitrogen by certain of the leguminous 

 plants (notably the clovers), particularly upon sour soils, is facilitated by the 

 application of lime. 



LIMING SOMETIMES INJURIOUS. 



Excessive amounts of lime, especially on light soils, may have an injurious 

 action. This is particularly true of freshly slaked lime and of ground limestone 

 upon light sandy soils, which are inclined to be dry and which contain only small 

 amounts of orgauic matter. It hastens unduly the decomposition of organic matter, 

 and thus renders the soil more open and less reteutive of fertilizers and moisture 

 than before. If either ground burned lime or slaked lime must be used upon 

 such soils it should be applied in small amounts and at not too frequent intervals. 

 As stated heretofore, clay marls are much better adapted than other forms of lime 

 for the improvement of such soils. In lieu of such marl either wood ashes or lime 

 which has been exposed to the action of the air for a long time is usually preferable 

 to lime which has been recently prepared. Before the advent of "complete" 

 fertilizers it was a common adage, that liming " makes rich fathers and poor 

 sons." If lime is used alone it serves to '•liberate" potash, nitrogen, and some- 

 times phosphoric acid, and often the extra drain of increased crops on the soil 

 leaves it linally in a worse condition than at the outset. In other cases the soil 

 reverts after many years to its former state of unproductiveness, without 

 appreciable injury. Continued success with lime can only be assured by the use 

 of other essential mammal substances in connection with it. Fe w, if any, cases 

 are on record where soils originally in need of lime have failed to continue to give 

 good results from liming when care has been taken to maintain a proper supply 

 of the other essential constituents and where lime has been applied in moderate 

 amounts. There are impure limestones which after burning yield material that 

 will harden like cement, and which on this account may have an injurious action 

 upon the soil. If such limestone is pulverised without burning it is capable of 

 yielding good results. 



Dolomitic (magnesian) limestone contains Avidely varying percentages of 

 magnesia and lime. Such stone if containing high percentages of magnesia may 

 sometimes prove objectionable if used exclusively. Should injury arise from the 

 accumulation of an undue amount of magnesia, this can be overcome by an appli- 

 cation of ordinary lime. Rather than to use magnesian lime successively upon 

 the same land it would be preferable to replace it frequently with lime containing 

 little or no magnesia. Notwithstanding Avhat has been said, the presence of some 

 magnesia in lime is by no means objectionable, and it may, on certain soils, prove 

 positively beneficial. 



PLANTS BENEFITED BY LIMING. 



The following are some of the plants which, in experiments on acid 

 soil at the Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station, have shown marked 

 benefit from the use of lime: Spinach, lettuce (all kinds), beets (all kinds), 

 okra (gumbo), salsify (vegetable oyster), celery, onion, parsnip, cauliflower, 

 cucumber, eggplant, canteloupe, asparagus, kohl-rabi, cabbage, dandelion, Swedish 

 turnip, pepper, peanut, English or flat turnip, upland cress (pepper grass) 

 martynia, rhubarb, common pea, pumpkin, summer squash (scalloped), golden 

 wax bean, red valentine bean, horticultural pole bean, bush Lima bean, lentil, 

 Hubbard squash, saltbush, hemp, tobacco, sorguhm, alfalfa, clover (red, white, 

 crimson, and alsike), barley, emmer, wheat, oats, timothy, Kentucky bluegrass, 



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