Norwich bulletin., 1914-06-13
LIME AS A AFERTILIzER-oTfER FERTILIZERS

(written Specially for The Bulletin.)
 Just at present the agricultural at mosphere is full of talk about lime.
 The center of the disturbance-to use Q phrase from the weather bureau seems to be out in Illinois. Frank Mann. q successful farmer there, and brother of the republican leader in con- gress, appears to have an obsession for lime and phosphate-by the way. don't fall into the error, common in some parts of New England. of calling all commercial fertilizer phosphate" A complete fertilizer such as is usually sold contains nitrogen and potash as simply form of phosphoric acid or phosphorus. which Is just one of the three clements commonly believed to be required to make up Q complete fertilizer. When you speak of 8 "phos- phate'' you really refer to such things rock. If you say "pfosphate" and mean 'fertifizer." you're using words wrongly and are liable to be nisunds-- stood
 We'll, Frank Man found sorne years ago that on his rich aHuvial Illinois bottom soil he didn't need nitrogen. The dirt was full of it stored up from the accumulations of untold centuries of matchmaking and inundatton. What he needed was something to release that ninety foot deep supply and make 1t available for the roots Of his crops. Experiment showed that lime had a powerful effect along this exact line. 1t, 'i6weetened" the soil. 1. @. 1t so acted on tho uitxAteS aboundinE therein as to make them available for plant food. which the most of them were not, un- less affected by some such agent
 A l- in c plants food which makes 1t grow rank and lush That is why. a nitro Een0us manure like that from the barnyards Is 50 good for grass and stlaSo and lettuce and spinach and sim liar cgOps where green growth of leaf aEe b most desired.
 Phosphorus, speaking in the samo general way. seems to promote the de- veIopnnent of fruit, kernels, seeds, grains, etc. So Mr. Mann added ground phoaphate rock to the lime when ne was nttang for corn or other cereals. By thio combination he was. theoret- toal1y, promised a rank growth of plant end q heavy yield of grain. In practice he found that the theory worked out dne. So he adopted 1t and recommend ed it to his neighbors. As. in addition to being . successful farmer, he is also one of tho editors of a widely ctrculat- ed farm paper, his lime-phosphate ideas spread. Others took them up, and now 1t would appear as if they were being more talked about than almost any others in connection with fertilization.
 A friendly correspondent has flatter- ed me by asking what l think about lime for use here in the east.
 Well. brother. I've lived and farmed just long enough to be sure of only one thing. That is. that there isn't any general rule of fertilization which fits everybodys land
 The fact that ono treatment Is the correct one for an Illinois prairie may suggest the worth-while-ness of ex- perimenting with 1t on a Connecticut upland. But it is neither proof nor even evidence that it is the best thing for us to do.
 It may be; and 1t may not be. Tae only way to tell is to find out. And, as to ind out is by ascertaining. More- over. the only way to ascertain is to learn your soil. acre by acre. square rod by square rod; learn what 1t is best fitted for naturally; what it most needs to help its natural capacity-in short, study 1t and work on 1t as zeal ously and as patiently as you would over a muddled problem in arithmetic, or Q new Chinese puzzle.
 N may very well be that come of your land would be greatly benefited by the use of lime, alone or with phos- phAke, or with potash.
 It may not impossibIy be that limo would be about the worst thing you could use on it. I don't know; nobody knows. The only fellow who can find out and know is you yourself individ- ually and in person
 Theres one consolina thing about .ts lime. either in the form of waste air slaled Lime from the kiln or ground limestone from the mill, is pretty cheap and 1t doesn't cost much to give it . try. You don't need to pay the fer tilixer trust for it.
 They used to have saying down in Pennsylvania that lime-faIming made the fathers rich and the sons poor. The meaning of this was that the use of lime. continued year after year and