Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1929-04-18
LIME, LEGUMESA
STABLE MANURE
And the Relation of Each to Soil
Building and Crop Production,
as Experienced by Progressive
Watauga Farmer
By H. NEAL BLAIR

ed lime and ground limestone
applied on the soil, and l have found
it to be great soil improver. Lime
is not fertilizer. 1t does not con-
tain any plant food, unless lime rock
is mixed with phosphate rock. 1t
serves a purpose, however, which
neither fertilizer nor stable manure
will serve. Most land in this coun-
S:ry, and perhaps in all countries where
limestone is not present in the soil,
has acid in it, due to fermentation
caused by decay of vegetable matter.
This acid is very detrimental to the
growth Of crops and must be elimi-
mated before land can be very pro-
ductive. Lime is an alkali and coun-
teracts the acid in the soil. Land
may be rich in plant food but cannot
be productive if it is acid, any more
than big stout man with a bad case
of collie can work Lime will do for
the soil what soda water will do for
the stomach of a human or a horse.
Lime also has a chemical action on
certain forms of plant food in the
soil that are not soluble--that is, not
available for the plant roots to feed
on. 1t makes this become soluble,
and shows that the land has just
been sick and not poor or thin. This
effect of lime is what causes men TO
get the mistaken idea that lime is a
fertilizer.
Very few tame crops grown in
this country will do any good on acid
soil--only two that | know of. They
are buckwheat and herds grass.
There are certain signs of acidity in
the soil. The presence of sheep sor-
rell, moss 'dewberry vines, sink
field, wire grassland l believe
herds-grass are sure signs. On
the other hand, timothy or clover
will not grow, corn will do little Or
40 good. Rye will be ''patchy" and
uneaven, spindling and short-head-
ed. Weeds will take the oat field.
Cabbage will look like they had lice
ON them and will not make much. l
have grown crops of all this stuff,
hut ] got tired of it. | lined my
land, used fertilizer and stable ma
pure lust as | had been doing, and
en- land that had been growing moth
ing worth harvesting, l have been
making, for several years, from 40
to SIS bushels oats, 18 to "a bushels
rye, 40 to so bushels corn, 1000
to 5000 pounds nice clean timothy
Lay, and $4,000 to $4,000 pounds
cabbage per acre. And in this con-
neetion, | should like to refer my
friends to other farmers, some OF
whom are Farthing Edminsten, Ro5y
Greer, Henry Hardin, Carter Earth
ing and Floyd Ward.
Now, as to the form of lime to be
used, / prefer raw, ground lime
stone rather than burned lime, be-
cause it serves the same purpose and
is much cheaper and more EARLY ap-
piled. 1t takes two tons of raw
limestone to be worth one ton OF
burned lime, but we can get three
or four tons of ground to one ton OF
the burned, for the same money. 1t
is generally claimed that burned
lime will show quicker results, but |
hot fho,.o rnnnh
this. l have had splendid immediate
results from ground limestone on
buckwheat, rye, oats and grass
and on corn if land was not very
acid. If it is very acid better keep
corn off until the second year. Corn
is more easily stunted and ruined
before the proper action can take
place in the soil than the other crops
mentioned. l have also found that
if land is very acid it should be
lined twice. Lime should be work
ed into soil to the usual plowing
depth, and the depth that plant roots
range. This cannot be done at one
time, so | have found it advisable
to make two applications-the sec
/. ond one following the second plow-
. ing. Il have found it advisable to use
about two tons per acre at each ap-
plication on land that is very acid.
If indications Of acidity are not so
strong, one ton at time will PROB
ably be sufficient. Land lined in
this way will not need lining again
for several years, but if you depend
en- one application you are likely to
be disappointed, regardless of how
much you use. l once put about five
tons on one acre that | thought
needed it badly, and the next time
/ plowed it the wiregrass came back.