Produced by Steven Giacomelli, Janet Blenkinship and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images produced by Core
Historical Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell
University)
Right Use of Lime In Soil Improvement
_By_ ALVA AGEE
[Illustration: Applying Lime]
Secretary New Jersey State Department of Agriculture
Formerly director of agricultural extension in the Pennsylvania State
College and New Jersey State College of Agriculture.
_Illustrated_
NEW YORK
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LIMITED
1919
Copyright 1919, by
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
_All Rights Reserved_
Printed in U. S. A.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. THE LIME IN SOILS 4
3. SOUR SOILS 10
4. EVIDENCES OF ACIDITY 15
5. TESTS FOR ACIDITY 20
6. SOURCES OF LIME 24
7. DEFINITIONS 28
8. GROUND LIMESTONE 33
9. STORING LIME IN THE SOIL 38
10. FRESH BURNED LIME 44
11. BURNING LIME 49
12. LIME HYDRATE 53
13. OTHER FORMS OF LIME 57
14. MAGNESIAN LIME 64
15. WHAT SHALL ONE BUY? 68
16. METHODS OF APPLICATION 78
17. AMOUNT OF LIME PER ACRE 82
18. SPECIAL CROP DEMANDS 86
ILLUSTRATIONS
Applying Lime Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
I. Clover and Timothy Unfertilized at the Pennsylvania
Experiment Station Yielded 2,460
pounds per acre 10
II. Clover and Timothy with Fertilizer alone at
the Pennsylvania Experiment Station Yielded
3,900 pounds per acre 11
III. Clover and Timothy with Lime alone at the
Pennsylvania Experiment Station Yielded
4,900 pounds per acre 14
IV. Clover and Timothy with Fertilizer and Lime
at the Pennsylvania Experiment Station
yielded 6,290 pounds per acre 15
V. Limed and Unlimed Ends of a Plot at the
Ohio Experiment Station 16
VI. Effect of Finely Pulverized Limestone on Clover
in a Soil having a Lime Requirement of
5,200 Pounds of Limestone per Acre, at the
Pennsylvania Experiment Station 17
VII. Lime Favors Clover at the Ohio Experiment
Station 24
VIII. Lime Affects Growth of Corn at the Ohio Experiment
Station 25
IX. An Indiana Limestone Quarry 32
X. A Limestone Plant 33
(Courtesy of the Michigan Limestone Company.)
XI. A Limestone Pulverizer for Farm Use 38
(Courtesy of the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company,
Columbus, Ohio.)
XII. A Lime Pulver in Operation 39
(Courtesy of the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company.)
XIII. Laying Foundation for a Lime Stack at the
Pennsylvania Experiment Station 48
XIV. A Stack nearly Completed at the Pennsylvania
Experiment Station 49
XV. Effect of Excessive Use of Burned Lime without
Manure at the Pennsylvania Experiment
Station 52
XVI. A Hydrated Lime Plant 53
(Courtesy of the Palmer Lime and Cement Company,
York, Pa.)
XVII. Filling the Lime Spreader at the Ohio Experiment
Station 78
XVIII. Lime Distributors 79
XIX. Remarkable Effect of Lime on Sweet Clover at
the Ohio Experiment Station 86
XX. Sweet Clover Thrives When Lime and Manure
are Supplied, Ohio Experiment Station 87
* * * * *
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
There is much in the action of lime in the soil that is not known, but
all that we really need to know is simple and easily comprehended. The
purpose of this little book is to set down the things that we need to
know in order that we may make and keep our land friendly to plant life
so far as lime is necessarily concerned with such an undertaking.
Intelligent men like to reason matters out for themselves so far as
practicable, taking the facts and testing them in their own thinking by
some truth they have gained in their own experience and observation, and
then their convictions stay by them and are acted upon. The whole story
of the right use of lime on land is so simple and reasonable, when we
stick only to the practical side, that we should easily escape the
confusion of thought that seems to stand in the way of action. The
experiment stations have been testing the value of lime applications to
acid soils, and the government has been finding that the greater part
of our farming lands is deficient in lime. Tens of thousands of farmers
have confirmed the results of the stations that the application of lime
is essential to profitable crop production on their farms. The confusion
is due to some results of the misuse of lime before the needs of soils
were understood, and to the variety of forms in which lime comes to us
and the rather conflicting claims made for these various forms. It is
unfortunate and unnecessary.
The soil is a great chemical laboratory, but exact knowledge of all its
processes doubtless would enrich the farmer's vocabulary more than his
pocketbook. We are concerned in knowing that lime's field of usefulness
is broad in that it is an essential plant food and provides the active
means of keeping the feeding ground of plants in sanitary condition. We
want to know how it comes about that our soils are deficient in lime,
and how we may determine the fact that they are deficient. We wish to
know the relative values of the various forms of lime and how we may
choose in the interest of our soil and our pocketbook. The time and
method of application are important considerations to us. There are
many details of knowledge, it is true, and yet all fit into a rational
scheme that shows itself to be simple enough when the facts arrange
themselves in an orderly way in our minds.
Lime cannot take the place of nitrogen, nor phosphorus, nor any other of
the essential plant foods. It is not a substitute for any other
essential factor in plant growth. It would be folly to try to depend
upon lime as a sole source of soil fertility. On the other hand, we have
learned very definitely within the last quarter of a century that it is
foolish to depend upon commercial fertilizers and tillage and good seeds
for full production of most crops from great areas of our farming
country that have a marked lime deficiency. The obvious need of our
soils is the rich organic matter that clover and grass sods could
furnish, and their fundamental need is lime. Most farms cannot possibly
make full returns to their owners until the land's hunger for lime has
been met. The only question is that regarding the best way of meeting
it.