Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1920-01-16
Does Your Soil Need Lime ?

! Our readers will be Interested to knol
that our County Agricultural Agen
has made arrangement with the Sol
Department Of the Maryland ExperI
ment station whereby every farmer d
z the county may have his soil testet
; free OF charge. This test will not onll
indicate whether or not lime is needed
but will also tell him the amount O
lime that Should be used
From one-half to two-thirds OF thl
farm land Of our county requires lim,
to produce probable crop. Il is
well known fact that the poor and IN
productive land of this section is in
variably sour and that many of oui
good soils would be more productive Il
lime was used moro literally. The ex.
perience of our best farmers has shown
that when the soil begins to need lime,
/ it is a waste of time and fertilizers to
cultivate II until this need has been
/ supplied.
With this in mind, our County Agent,
Mr.. John p Burdette, La Plata, has
set aside Ground Hog Day, Monday
/ Febauary 2nd., as soil testing day and
urges that on that day every
! farmer in the county take a sample OF
his soil and bring or send it to his Of
/ fee at .he Court House. He wants a
sample from every farmer and from
every farm a sample from eeery field
that has not received an application of
at least one ton of lime per acre du-
ring the last two years. All samples
received by him during the week of
February 2nd. will be tested for lime
requirements free of charge, If the di-
rections given below are followed.
DIRECTIONS FOR TAKING SOIL sam
PIES.
With a spade or shovel dig a square
hole to the depth of about six inches;
lay a clean piece OF paper in the
bottom OF the whole and then shave
thin slice from one side of the whole.
allowing the soil to fall on the paper
Lift the paper and the soil slice IRON
the hole and proceed to another place
in the same field and repeat the opera
ton.
If the field is Sma and fairly uni
form, two holes will be sufficient to
give a representative sample, but il the
field is large and uneven, it will lie
better to secure samples from at least
four different places. The sample thus
secured from the different places in the
same field should be then mixed to-
gether and, from the mixture a half
pint OF the soil should be taken for the
test This half-pint sample should be
wrapped In paper or PVT in a clean
bag and numbered or marked on the
outside Of the package.
The sample from each field should
be wrapped and numbered separately.
then all packed together in a box or
package fol shipment by parcel post.
The package may be taken or sent to
the County Agricultural Agent, or il /
may be sent by mail or parcel post di-
rect to the Soil Department, Maryland |
Experiment Station, College Park, |
Maryland.
1t is desired that all samples be tn
ken on Monday, February 2nd., re- |
gardless of the weather. If the ground |
is frozen at this time the samples may
be taken by chopping out small pieces |
of soil with an ak or Ratchet and after |
thawing mix as directed above.
For the convenience of our readers
We are printing a coupon which shou |
be used in sending samples. Before /
the package is wrapped for shipping. |
fill out this slip, tear of the couponl
and attach to your Safall--. i--'''PfhB 1
conv for rvIurtnce. Ihl, 3, important, ]
since the result of the test will be IT.
ported to you by number. and it VIII |
be necessary for you to know the fields |
to the numbers.