The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1914-11-19
AGRICULTURAL USE OF LIME

The use Of lime as a fertilizer dates
from the inception Of modern scientific
farming Agricultural chemists have
shown that there are 1--WE or six differ.
ent functions which lime may perform
10 benefit \ soil. which may be sum-
married briefly as follows;
4 l. II IL an essential element Of plant
food.
2. II aids in the conversion Of decay
ing organic matter into humus,
3. Il forms compounds with the
humic acids which tend TO prevent
their being leached out Of the soil and
lost.
4 By producing proper sanitary
conditions the growth Of injurious bac-
terra is largely prevented, while the
growth Of nitrifying bacteria is en-
couraged These nitrifying bacteria
convert the nitrogen Of the humus in
TO such form that il is available as a
plant food
5. Lime aids in the liberation Of pot
ash and phosphorus from inert com
pounds
6. II tends to foccuate clay soils,
rendering them granular and more
porous.
Obviously, permanent results can
not be expected unless care is taken
to insure the presence Of some organic
fertilizer at all times. Lime used alone
may be temporarily beneficial but will
eventually be harmful; when used with
cowpea vines it becomes more efficient
for general purposes than almost any
other fertilizer. OF course, lime is not
beneficial to all crops to the same ex-
tent, and not all soils need lime. Thus,
some of the common plants which are
stated by the Department of Agricul-
ture to be benefited by lime, are
spinach, lettuce, beet, celery, onion,
cucumber, cantaloupe, asparagus, cab
bage, peanut, rhubarb, pea, pumpkin,
bean, tobacco alfalfa, clover, barley,
wheat, oats, timothy, gooseberry, cur
rant, orange, ounce, and cherry. In
dian corn is only slightly benefited.
Plants which are said to be slightly
injured by lime are cotton, tomato,
cowpea, concord grape peach, apple,
and pear, and those really injured are
radish, flax, blackberry, black rasp-
berry, and cranberry.
Whether a soil will respond to linn
ing or not depends on the amount
of available calcium oxide which it al |
ready contains. Probably the best in
dication of the need of lime is the
failure to obtain good crop of clover.
The question whether lime should be
applied to the soil as quicklime, n.y.
drafted lime, air-slacked lime, or
ground limestone is still the subject |
Of great deal of controversy. The
advocates of ground limestone claim
that the caustic properties of quick or
hydrated lime will burn up and de-
stroy the organic matter in the SOD,
whereas limestone can be applied in /
arge quantities at long intervals and
will therefore produce more or less
permanent fertility. The advocates of |
ime claim that one of the main func-
ions which lime has to perform is the
destruction of the organic matter and
The liberation of the nitrogen in such
a form that the plant can use it; that
he frequent and judicious use of lime,
,ogether with some organic fertilizer,
will bring immediate results. Of
curse the local conditions of each par
ocular case must be considered before
1 final conclusion can be reached.
Thus, it is rational to use quicklime on
'oils which are exceedingly rich in
organic matter, such as peaty or
'wampy soils, Limestone is safer than
luicklime when applied just before
PLANTING crop which is little helped
~ lining, or when applied to light
andy soil in hot dry weather.--(T he
,ource, Manufacture and Use of Lime,
J. S. Geological Survey ,