Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1914-01-01
BUILDING H SOIL.
The Process of Helping Nature Build
SOn by Use of Lime.


Son by Use of Lime.
Now, that winter is at hand, what
is the soil doing? It is common to
say, that it is resting. Just the re-
verse is true. All out door life is
resting, but the soil is being worked
harder than at any other season.
Freezing, thawing, teaching action
of carbonie acid weathering. the
forces of mechanical and chemical ac-
ton are most active now.
A soil titled, but unfertilized and
planted with the same crop, which
needs the average of soil foods and
does no other harm settles down %
bearing a certain average crop. too
small to be profitable, but still j.
bears. For instance. the wheat plor
planted at the great English Elk
perimental farm for fifty years, has
yielded between ten and twelve bush
els since it was exhausted" AS
each crop takes oH its regular
amount of mineral plant foods, how
can It do it Because, q soil can
hardly ever be exhausted absolutely.
It can only be. deprived by plants o
those foods in the growing season
that are soluble. We may call it d.
gestible. The mechanical and chemi-
cal activity of winter makes q new
but moderate amount of those solu-
bic, that is to say digestible Tor
plants for the next growing season.
III an Exhausted" soil, as you see,
winter weather alone does not do it
ii paying quantities. Nature cares
nothing for what pays man.
The necessity and advantage of one
half of this work the farmer under
stands perfectly and always accord
ingly. With fall blowing, breaking
clods, draining and such work, he
helps frost. and weather to get IN
til cir work o fbreaking down and dis
solving out. These are the pla' n, n
d~eratanable forces. They are made
better by work.
What tie farmer is hardly ever
clear about is that he can also aid
Natures mysterious forces which
ne call chemical in soil making. To
do this, he must use substances which
we call chemicals. In reality, all
materials are chemicals. Wood, iron
clay, rocks. as well as ammonia. I've,
acids and salts. Only II common
talk, we distinguished by that name,
uncommon things that act sharpest
and quickest, like the tnings ia the
drug store. Now the strongest and
cheapest of all cEe4Ieals 70 Durned
lime. AS it bites Tic sa. may
be said to bite the soil. AS the mild
caustic baking soda sweetens the
sour stomach, so the strongest cause-
ic lime sweetens the sour land. A
pepsin medicine disso1ves a heavy
dinner, digests, so lime dissolves a
heavy sticky clod of soil. So also
does it dissolve the insolub'e potash
and phosphates in a temporarily ex-
hausted soil and now makes them
useful. This is what the Farmers
bulletins mean when they say that
Line makes these things Available.
This is how lime helps the mysterious
or chemical work of Nature in res
neysing the soil for the next growing
season. tt sWeeta alsss,g, dis
solves so the tender plant roots ind
mineral food in the next growing
season.
Lime is a strong chemical, there
fore. it must have time to spend its
caustic strength on the soil when ir
can do no harm TO growing things.
Use it now. Il it IS not on hand, get
it to use during the earliest open
weather Of the season. Nara aAasna