1138 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September ljs, 1!*15. 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Lime and Liming. 
Part III. 
With Wiiat Crops? —In the vast ma¬ 
jority of cases lime is best used at seeding 
of grain, grass or Alfalfa. Most of these 
crops respond to lime freely and the soil 
is well prepared for their seeding. This 
mixes the lime thoroughly all through the 
soil better than with most other crops. 
Thus when the lime is applied right after 
plowing all the work of harrowing and 
fitting helps to stir in the lime. Most of 
this work in our country would naturally 
come in the Fall, while in other sections 
where oats and barley are grown there 
would be more or less Spring -work with 
lime. Personally I should prefer the Fall 
use of lime, though most of our own lim¬ 
ing is done in May or early Summer. 
That is because we use it after plowing 
under our cover crops as I have explain¬ 
ed. As these cover crops are mostly seed¬ 
ed in the standing corn we cannot of 
course use the lime at time of seeding. 
We have tried spreading the lime through 
the corn and cultivating It in but this did 
not pay. If I were carrying on a regular 
rotation I should use the lime in the Fall 
when seeding to wheat and grass. In our 
section that would follow just after dig¬ 
ging potatoes, which -would be, I think, 
the best time for liming. 
Action On Crops. —Lime benefits 
most crops, but there are a few which are 
better without it. With us these anti- 
lime crops are potatoes, strawberries and 
cranberries. The trouble with potatoes 
is that the lime increases scab. As for 
strawberries the use of lime on this crop 
has always proved an injury. The plants 
do not grow and deveiop properly; the 
leaves are small and feeble, and the en¬ 
tire plant looks sick. Now and then I 
hear from farmers who claim to use 
wood ashes or even lime on berries with 
good effect. Very likely some varieties 
will stand more lime than others as is 
true of corn and raspberries, and this 
may account for these varying reports, 
but as a general proposition I would not 
put lime on strawberries or a year ahead 
of them. Most other fruits like peach and 
apple respond to small applications of 
lime, but I would not use heavy dress¬ 
ings. Annual applications of say 500 
pounds per acre, when plowing under the 
cover crops, are best for orchard work. 
Corn prefers a mildly acid soil to do its 
best, according to our experience. As a 
rule, corn is not the best crop on which to 
use lime, unless a very green or sappy 
crop such as clover has been plowed un¬ 
der in warm weather. Such a crop under 
certain conditions will make the ground 
too sour for corn and lime worked in be¬ 
fore planting will help. As a general 
proposition I would rather use ground 
limestone on corn than the more active 
slaked lime. Yet the variety and pedigree 
of the corn has much to do with it. Some 
varieties of sweet corn seem to crave 
lime, and will quickly respond to an ap¬ 
plication of it. On the other hand some 
flint, varieties prefer a sour soil. As a 
rule these flints are varieties which have 
long been grown on the thin, sour lands 
of New England hill farms until Nature 
has fitted them to grow and thrive under 
hard conditions. Heavy liming, when 
growing such flints, will do more harm 
than good. As a general proposition, and 
especially where we use manure freely on 
a sod, I would not use much lime on 
corn. 
Grain and Grass. —Of the small 
grains rye seems less in need of lime than 
the others. While lime does not injure 
rye, I have not noticed much gain from 
its use, though the Timothy put in with 
the rye always responds to lime. Oats, 
barley and buckwheat respond to lime, 
but wheat seems to obtain more from it 
than the other small grains. Thus Fall 
seeding to wheat and Timothy makes a 
fine point in the rotation of liming. 
Most of the grasses, like Blue grass and 
Timothy, respond quickly to lime—in 
fact, will not grow well without it. Red- 
top seems to prefer a damp and rather 
acid soil. There are many cases on record 
where Timothy and Red-top have been 
seeded together. For the first year or 
while the soil was well supplied with 
available plant food, the Timothy came 
on strong. After the second year the 
Timothy fades away and the Red-top 
takes possession. That is because the soil 
was too sour for the Timothy, but just 
right for the. Red-top. Work up that 
land and add lime and the Timothy will 
come back and occupy it. We often hear 
from farmers who drain swamps or shal¬ 
low pond holes and sow grass seed. Such 
places are very rich, yet Timothy and 
Red clover fail, while Red-top and Alsike 
clover do fairly well. It is because the 
soil, though very rich, is sour, so that 
Timothy and Red clover will not thrive. 
Most of the clovers demand lime. Some 
farmers regard the growth of Red clover 
as the surest indication of lime require¬ 
ments in the soil. If clover grows rank 
and strong it is a pretty sure indication 
that lime is present in ample supply. 
You can make clover grow on a rather 
sour soil by manuring or fertilizing heav¬ 
ily, but it is not good farming to feed 
nitrogen to clover. The clover ought to 
hunt its own nitrogen from the air and 
give it to the farm instead of taking it 
from other crops and fields. It cannot 
do this work unless fully supplied with 
lime. A ton of Red clover hay contains 
nearly 40 pounds of lime and it cannot 
do its work of taking nitrogen from the 
air unless the soil around its roots is alka¬ 
line. Thus a seeding of Red clover and 
Timothy makes a fine place for the heavy 
use of lime in a rotation. It is a pecu¬ 
liar thing that Alsike clover will grow 
well on soil so moist and sour that Red 
clover could not make a crop. We al¬ 
ways mix Red and Alsike together when 
seeding on the theory that no field will be 
uniformly sweet or sour all over and thus 
the two clovers put in together would 
give a better stand than either one alone. 
Crimson clover also seems to give fair re¬ 
sults on acid soils and does not seem to 
need lime as Red clover or Alfalfa do. 
Sweet clover is said to need much lime. 
Alfalfa must have lime in order to en¬ 
dure. It is in greater need of lime than 
Red clover and many failures with this 
crop are due to a lack of lime. I think 
that some of the new Siberian Alfalfas 
may be somewhat like flint corn in their 
ability to thrive on slightly acid soils, but 
all that remains to be seen. Soy beans, 
cow peas and vetch can make a good crop 
when the soil is rather acid, while Can¬ 
ada peas need lime. To sum it up, the 
best place to use lime in a farm rotation 
is at seeding to grass and small grain 
and particularly with Alfalfa or Red 
clover. Next to that comes the time 
when a soft green crop is plowed under. 
There are other uses for lime in the gar¬ 
den which we will take up later. 
Curious Plant Actions. —While our 
chemists have learned many things about 
lime in its relation to plants there is yet 
much to know. It is common knowledge 
that sorrel thrives on an acid soil. 
Whenever the red. head of sorrel works 
into a meadow or pasture we all under¬ 
stand that the field is sour and needs 
lime, because we believe that sorrel likes 
a sour soil. Yet it has been noticed that, 
sometimes, when a big crop of sorrel is 
plowed under and decays in the soil, it is 
possible to grow a fair crop of clover. In 
some way the decaying sorrel seems to 
have corrected the very conditions which 
made it grow in the first place. Dr. H. 
J. Wheeler explains this in his book on 
“Manures and Fertilizers.” The sorrel 
grows on land in which there is practi¬ 
cally no carbonate of lime. The lime is 
found in other combinations which ordi¬ 
nary plants cannot reach but which the 
sorrel is able to dissolve and utilize. 
When once in the sorrel plant this lime 
among other chemical processes forms 
with some of the oxalic acid a calcium 
oxalate. When the plant decays this com¬ 
pound breaks or splits up and forms car¬ 
bonate of lime—the substance needed to 
sweeten the soil. Thus the sour sorrel 
finds itself master of the acid soil because 
other plants cannot eat or dissolve the 
hard lime compounds. The sorrel gets 
the lime where other plants could not 
feed, and then makes this lime over into 
forms which will sweeten the soil and 
give these other plants a chance to crowd 
out the sorrel. 
The “Kick” In Lime.—I just give this 
as not of great practical importance, but 
as making us think of the different forms 
of lime. There are many situations where 
the ground limestone will give fine re¬ 
sults with its slower, gentle action. There 
are other places where it is better to use 
a lime with more “kick” in it. It seems 
to me that the chemical change of “quick” 
or slaked lime back to the form of car¬ 
bonate or limestone must have a useful 
effect upon some of our hard and sour 
soils. That is what I call the “kick” in 
lime. Some of the advocates of ground 
limestone have become so worked up over 
the matter that they seem to think it a 
criminal offence for anyone to advise 
slaked lime or what I call lime with a 
“kick.” I think such lime quarrels are 
foolish. It is all a matter of price, except 
in certain special cases. Where careful 
figures show that a farmer can buy more 
lime for a dollar in limestone my advice 
is to buy that form. Be careful and fig¬ 
ure in cost of freight and hauling and re¬ 
member that about two pounds of lime¬ 
stone are needed to do the work of one 
pound of good slaked lime. Where you 
need the “kick” in lime buy “quick” 
lime or slaked lime. The “kick” is needed 
in cases like the following: When the 
soil is very sour and hard. Quick, strong 
action is needed there. In composting 
muck or sods to make fertilizer. In such 
case a strong action is needed, and the 
slaked lime will be better than limestone. 
LIME 
If your land needs lime. 
“the best is the cheapest’’ 
GENESEE HYDRATE 
Stands at head for strength 
and availability 
See Bulletins of N. Y. State 
Agricultural Experiment Sta¬ 
tion for 1911-1912-1913 or 1914. 
GIVE US A TRIAL 
Genesee Lime Co., Honeoye Falls, N.Y. 
FERTILIZERS 
WANT AGENTS 
S. M. Hess & Bro. 
(inc.) Room g, 
4-th & Chestnut Streets 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Some farmers have a chance to haul saw¬ 
dust, pomace shavings, tin waste and 
other refuse for a very low price. Such 
stuff often contains some plant food but 
is sour. If used heavily it will often in¬ 
jure the land for several years. Such 
stuff may often be spread in apple or¬ 
chards with a quantity of lime mixed 
with it, and for this purpose slaked lime 
is best to “kick” the acid out of this sour 
stuff. H. w. C. 
Making Wire Fence. 
1. I wish to make a 200-foot two-inch 
chicken wire by hand. Can you inform 
me how to make it, and does it pay? I 
get 150 running feet, six feet high for 
$3.75. I have plenty of time to make 
it. I need about 500 running feet alto¬ 
gether, five to six feet high. 2. What 
shall I use to make wallpaper stick to 
a wooden wall? Which is the cheaper 
way, put muslin on it or wash it with 
something that will stick? c. K. 
New York. 
1. It does not seem to me possible to make 
poultry netting by hand as cheaply as 
it can be purchased and I am very sure 
that you will be able to earn enough at 
other work to purchase much more poul¬ 
try fencing than you could make by hand 
in the same time. This work is done by 
machinery in large factories, and there is 
no use in trying to compete with these 
machines by hand labor. 
2. A good paper-hanger tells me that 
the best way to paper over wood is to 
tack a breadth of cheesecloth by one 
edge to the boards to be covered, then 
to spread paste over the wood and sweep 
the cheese cloth down to the wood with 
a broom or brush. The cheesecloth 
should then be tacked to the wood, using 
small tacks well scattered over the sur¬ 
face. After it becomes dry, the wall pa¬ 
per may be applied in the usual way. 
M. B. D. 
We Save You $8.00 
$10to$22 
FALL SUITS & 
OVERCOATS 
Onr plan enables yon to be well dressed and 
save money in the bargain. 
We refund your money if you are not satisfied 
Every'prarment is guaranteed not only to fit per- 
» fectly, but to keep its perfect 
shape permanently. Glen 
Rock garments are noted for 
the excellence of cloth, trim¬ 
mings, cutting and tailoring. 
Signed guarantee attached to 
every made-to-order garment. 
Send today for Style 
Book and 40 Cloth 
Samples. 
GLEN ROCK WOOLEN CO. 
J.E. Cri/res, Treas.Gr Gcn.Mgr. 
203 Main St., Somerville, N. J. 
CLOTHES FOE MEN S 
CttMROCIC WOOLEN CO. 
Free 
LET ER RAIN 
If joirve a man’s work to do — 
wear TOWERS FlSH BRAND 
IRETLEX SUCKER $51 
^OWEi?; 
AJTOWERCQ 
^ BOSTON 
•A* 
Empire 
Steel 
Most satisfac¬ 
tory for hauling 
on rough roads. 
Stubble and to 
ensilage cutter. 
Cost only 75c 
per year on basis 
of 20 to 26 years service, 
which is the average. 
Sent on 80 days Free 
Trial. Write for partic¬ 
ulars, catalog & prices. 
EMPIRE MFC. CO., 
Box 496, Quincy, III 
Steel wheels with wide 
tires increase carrying 
capacity over one hair, 
last a lifetime, never 
need repairs.save time 
and strength loading 
and unloading. 
We furnish any 
size to fit any 
axle. Make your 
wagon as good as 
new. Order a 
Set Today. 
Wheels 
TWICE THE 
LIGHT 
Charges Prepaid 
Send No Money 
HALPTHE NEW KEROSENE LIGHT 
Beats Electric or Gasoline 
ns 
We don’t ask you to pay Tis a cent until you have 
used this wonderful modem light in your own home 
ten days—we even prepay transportation charges. You 
may return it at our expense 
if not perfectly satisfied after 
putting it to every possible 
test for 10 nights. You can’t 
possibly lose a cent. We want 
to prove to you that it makes 
an ordinary oil lamp look 
like a candle; beats electric, 
gasoline or acetylene. Lights 
and is put out like old oil 
lamp. Tests at 33 leading 
Universities and Government 
Bureau of Standards show it 
Awarded 
GOLD MED A 
at World*s 
Exposition 
San 
Francisco 
Burns 50 Hours 
on One Gallon 
common coal oil, and gives more than twice 
much light as the best round wick open 
name lamps. No odor, smoke or noise, simple, 
clean, no pressure, won’t explode. Several million 
people already enjoying this powerful, white, 
steady light, nearest to sunlight. Guaranteed, 
Sf 000 Will Be Given 
Men Make S50 
to $300.00 Per Month 
With Rigs or Autos 
deli veringthe ALADDIN 
on our easy trial plan. 
No previous experience 
necessary. 
Practically every farm 
home and Email town 
home will buy after try¬ 
ing. One farmer who had 
never sold anything in 
his life before writes: “I 
sold 51 lamps the first 
Beven days.” Another 
says: “I disposed of 37 
lamps out of 31 calls.” 
Thousands who are coin¬ 
ing money endorse the 
Aladdin just as strongly. 
NO MONEY Required 
We furnish capital to re¬ 
liable me n to ge t started. 
Askfor our distributor's 
plan, and learn how to 
make big money in un¬ 
occupied territory. Sam¬ 
ple sent for lO days 
FREE TRIAL. 
to the person who shows us an oil lamp 
equal to the new Aladdin (details of offer given in our circular.) Would 
we dare make such a challenge if there were the slightest doubt as to merits 
of the Aladtfin ? We want one user in each locality to whom we can 
refer customers. Be the first and get our special introductory offer under which you get your own 
lamp free for showing it to_a few neighbors and sending in their orders. Write quick for lO- 
Day Absolutely Free Trial. Just say, “Show me how I can get a strong white light from 
kerosene oil, without risking a cent Address our nearest office. 
MANTLE LAMP COMPANY, 174 Aladdin Building 
Largest Kerosene (Coal Oil) Mantle Lamp House in the World 
CHICACO, ILL. NEW YORK CITY PORTLAND, ORE. 
