The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1898-02-24
WHEN TO APPLY LIME.
Importance of Even Distribution and Com
plete Incorporation In the Soil.

Importance Of Even Distribution and Com
pIete Incorporation In the Soil.
For the reason that lime while in its
oaustio state is injurious to certain crops
and by lying in the soil it's oaustioity is
soon lost CT materially decreased it is
evident that the ideal time to apply it
would be in the autumn. When autumn
seeding is practiced, either with grass
alone or in connection with winter rye,
, the lime should be sown upon the fur
rows after blowing aud then most thor
oughly narrowed in.
Where seeding Indian corn fields to
grass at the last hoeing is practiced, as
! is common in the Connecticut valley IN
Massachusetts, it would be advisable
to apply the lime in the manner out
lined above after blowing the land in
the spring for the Indian corn crop.
| Under other circumstances it is prob
ably better not to lime just before
Indian corn or rye, for these crops are
liable to be slightly injured by fresh ap-
plications of lime, some of which Is in
the caustic state. In the case of rye,
there may be a slight increase in grain,
which would offset to some extent the
slight loss on the straw, while with In
dian corn the maturity of the crop Is
usually fastened by lining, sometimes
even nearly a week, so that it is less
liable to injury by early frosts and more
time is given in the autumn after the
removal of the corn for the grass TO gain
firm foothold before the advent of
winter.
If the lime is thoroughly worked into
the soil, it may be applied in the spring
for certain plants, with little or no risk
and usually with great advantage. This
seems to hold true of beets of all kinds,
lettuce, spinach, caulifiower, kohl rabi,
onions, muskmelons, cantaloupes, salsi-
fly, cabbages, peppers and many other
plants The experiments thus far con-
Quoted at the Rhode Island station indi-
cate that ordinary millet, golden millet
and Hungarian grass should be sown if
possible year or more after lining.
These statements in relation to care in
lining just prior to growing rye, In
dian corn and millet apply to cases
where the nitrogen supply is chiefly in
the form of nitrates, such for example
as nitrate of soda, and where the soil
conditions naturally induce rapid nitri-
fcation of the soil nitrogen, or of the
nitrogen applied in natural and artificial
manures, such as ammonium salts or or
ganic matter.
If the soil is very sour and nitrates
are not employed, then the use of lime
Immediately before these crops may
prove of great service, for the reason
that the benefit derived from the lime
by virtue of it's facilitating the trans
formation of the nitrogen into form
Immediately assinilable by the plant
may far outweigh any direct injury
that the lime might otherwise have ex-
erted. In certain of the experiments re-
ported on from the station already re-
ferred to, under such conditions, where
the soil was very acid, the use OF lime
directly before these crops has proved
highly advantageous, but where an
abundance of nitrate of soda was ap-
piled such was not the case. In view,
however, of the fact that most of the
commercial fertilizers employed contain
but limited amounts of nitrates, it is to
be concluded, provided the soil is very
acid that the safer plan would be to
use the lime even before these crops,
provided the land had not been lined
for several years and stood greatly In
need of such treatment.