St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-11-15
The Use OF Lime.

1t is sort of axiom among farmers
that ..where lime is used the land and
the farmers are rich" This is an old
but true adage and deserves to be made
one of the established axioms of agri-
culture. 1t is true in two ways-one,
that lime is an exceedingly valuable
fertilizing agent of itself. and in addi-
ton exerts a most beneficial influence
upon the soil as solvent of the sill
Gates, chiefly of potash, and also in de-
composing organic matters IN the soil
and favoring its nitrifcation and the
production of the indispensable nitrates
which so greatly enrich the soil; the
other that its use is one of those higher
attributes of skillful farming which is
consistent only with the best culture OF
the soil and the most thorough and sys-
tematic working OF it. 1t is, in fact, in
the farmers hands one of those instru-
ments which is rarely or never found
excepting where every part OF the farm
work is done in the most excellent man.
ner, so that it is not SO much that the
farmer uses lime as that he uses it Is .
part of q system of farming which IS
thoroughly excellent, and, of course.
very profitable. Lime is thus not to be
used in haphazard way, and simply to
extract from the soil the last vestiges OF
fertility it can bring out. When thus
used another common adage, that
cline enriches the father and impOver-
ishes the son." will surely be found
true. because it is like a last turn Of the
screw which sgueezes the last drop OF
juice from the cider mill.
The place of lime in good farming IS
its application to the land at the fall
season when rye or wheat is sown and
grass or clover seeding follows. The
land has then become more or less
supplied with organic matter from the
roots and waste of previous crops, and
it has accumulated q store of nitro
genous and carbonaceous matter which
cannot be made available until it is de-
composed nor until sufficient quantity
of mineral matter has been set free in
the soil to balance the supply OF plant
food required for q new rotation OF
crops, Besides at this season and with
fall grain the regular manuring OF the
land is given and the manure is gen
erallv coarse and undecomposed. 1t is
precisely under such conditions that
lime is of the greatest use and value
and fits the soil for q new round OF
crops. :. ;,
The quantity of lime usually applied
is forty or fifty bushels per acre OF
freshly burned or stone lime. In the
air-slacking by which it is prepared for
use it swells to three times its original
bulk and becomes fine powder which
is spread from . wagon, with long
handled shovel, evenly over the soil.
This should be done upon the plowed
land Immediately before sowing. when
it is narrowed in with the seed; or If
the seed is drilled il is narrowed in
previously. As lime is quite soluble in
this fine condition, requiring only 200
times its own bulk of water to dissolve
it, it should never be plowed in. or it
will be very quickly carried down into
the soil below the reach Of the roots OF
any plants, excepting those of clover.
Clover is one Of the plants which are
wonderfully benefited by lime. and it
is for this reason, among many others.
that its use is to be encouraged. because
it provides the skillful farmer With one
of the most valuable sources OF manure:
viz, heavy clover sod to be ploved
mn Y. Times.