Pocahontas star herald., 1911-07-14
USE LIME As
A FERTILIZER

among the farmers. Although tn,
application of lime can easily b,
carried to excess the practice should
be looked on with favor as the
tendency is toward better farming
Most all the soils of this state con.
! tain sufficient lime to supply this
form of plant food to the growing
crops, yet the soil in great many
cases seems to be benefited by its
use. Lime Is not fertilizer in the
sense that it supplies some form of
lacking plant. food to the soil but
rather lime acts indirectly on the
soil in such a way as TO make plant
food more available. This is ac.
complished in a number of WAYS.
Lime will act on the less soluble
potash compound of the soil and
render the potash more available to
the plant. This may lessen the
need of potash manure for awhile
but it must be remembered that no
potash has been added to the soil. |
Lime simply makes it possible for
the crop to draw more rapidly on
on the store of potash already pre.
sent. Phosphate fertilizers are
also rendered more effective when
there is an abundance of lime pres
ent. Lime may increase the avaiIa-
blllty of the comparatively insert
phosphate already In the soil by
reactions similar to those in the
Ease of potash.
Chemically, lime is what is known
IS chase" and has the power of
eacting with an acid in such
Tay as to forms neutral compound.
v hen a soil Is sour it contains a
uantity of free unneutralized acids.
'hese acids are formed from the de- :
imposition of vegetable matter in =
lie soil and if not neutralized by
A
'me base such as lime they very
item accumulate in large quantities
Id become injurious to the growth
plants. Peaty soils are often
'ry sour because the decomposition
so much vegetable matter has
rmed larger quantity of acid
an could be neutrallzed by the
ses present. Some times upland :
a1s-a re- e----,- .'.nrA- -.-;d than.-....s. y
lis. This may be because the VI
cks from which the soil was form
contained a very small quantity
the bases and those that they did We,
ntained were soon used up by the
ids formed. aW
Some plants are extremely sensl- DR.
ye to an acid soil while Others co
EN- to thrive equally well on either ha
acid or neutral soil and even
me, such as blackberry, do better yC
! an acid soil. The legumlnous Gu
'ops, such as alfalfa, clovers, etc., m
, much better on a neutral or al
lightly alkaline soil. Grasses as tt
lie require less lime than the clo' b.
,rs though timothy is rather SEN 81
tive to sour land. When timothy n
nd clover are crowded out by red a
ID it Is a very good sign that II
ne land is sour, since red n
Do thrives on an acid soil while 3
Imothy and clover are greatly J
andlcapped under such conditions b
Jelther corn nor millet are especial t
Y sensitive to sour la nd. a
1 Organic matter decomposes more
BADLY in the presence of lime and !
De plant.food that it contains be-
Dimes more readily available. The
aowth o f nltrifying bacrerlaS
yhich convert the organic nitrogen
as compounds into a form which
an be absorbed and used by The
uant, demands an alkaline or neut-
al media and this is furnished by
the lime.
Lime also helps the physical con-
dition of heavy clay soils. This is
accomplished by the hooculation of
the clay PARTICLES thus making the
soil more permeable and allowing
better circulation of air,
The kind of lime used might al
so affect the result but ordinarily |
tso Stacked lime will give the best
3