398 REPORT OF THE CHEMIST OF THE 
an important factor when a freshly-limed soil receives abund- 
ance of rain, because considerable amounts of the hydroxid 
go into solution and thus are more quickly and uniformly 
distributed through the soil. 
At the prices usually prevailing ($10 to $12 a ton), one can 
not afford to use wood-ashes for neutralizing soil acidity. As 
compared with the average cost of potash and lime, wood-ashes 
of high commercial grade can hardly be regarded as worth 
more than $7 to $8 a ton. On account of the potassium car- 
bonate present, wood-ashes are more efficient than lime in 
compacting very light soils. 
HOW TO APPLY LIME TO SOILS. 
In applying lime to soils, three facts should be kept in mind: 
(1) The lime should be distributed for the most part in the 
upper layer of the soil, say within three or four inches of the 
surface; (2) it should be distributed as uniformly and 
thoroughly as possible through the soil; (3) in case of quick- 
lime, it should be put into the soil while mostly in the form of 
Slaked lime or hydroxid and before being changed more than 
slightly into carbonate. 
The most convenient form of lime to handle is probably the 
ground quicklime, which is furnished for building purposes and 
which can usually be distributed with a fertilizer drill. There 
are, however, special lime-spreaders which are more convenient. 
Freshly burned lump-lime may be slaked in a large pile near 
the field and then distributed; but when one has no special 
means for distributing the slaked lime, it is more convenient 
under ordinary conditions to distribute the lump-lime in small 
piles over the field after the land is prepared for a crop. A 
little water (equal to about one-third the weight of the lime) 
is slowly poured on each heap and the lime then covered with 
fine earth. When thoroughly slaked, the powder is mixed with 
more earth and distributed with a shovel as evenly as possible, 
after which it is promptly harrowed into the soil very thor- 
