Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 236, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1917 — DRESSING OF LIME APPLIED TO MEADOW [ARTICLE]

DRESSING OF LIME APPLIED TO MEADOW

Material Replaces That Which Has Been Used Up in Natural Decomposition. (By W. R.GILBERT.) Meadow land frequently dressed with farmyard manure will at certain Intervals respond to a dressing of lime. The lime applied replaces that which has been used up in the natural decomposition of the organic matter in the soil; that which has been lost »n the drainage water, and also that which has been carried off yearly in the hay crop and, in the cases of grazing, by the animals. During recent years a form of lime, called ground lime, has been put upon the market. It is produced by grinding cob lime by machinery to a very fine powder, and it Is thus made possible to broadcast Mme in a caustic condition and in a finely divided form over the land. The chemical changes previously described will be repeated with this material and the ground lime will become changed to carbonate of lime. Ground lime is applied in quantities varying from five hundredweight to twenty hundredweight per statute acre, and when put on with a slag sower can be uniformly distributed. , The question which at once becomes apparent is whether limestone rock, carbonate lime ground to a fine powdery and evenly distributed over meadow land might not give results equal to those produced by cob lime -and--ground lime, and thus dispense with the expensive process of burning the rock.

In considering the results, it must always be remembered that the. action of lime in the soil is very slow and is extended over a number of years; consequently but few conclusions can be drawn until more hay crops from these plots have been weighed. The advantage, however, it will be noticed, rests with the finely divided varieties of lime, and undoubtedly the application of lime to the" soil in a finely divided condition is attended with more immediate results than where cob lime, is employed. It is remarked: (1) In districts where, owing to nearness of limekilns, it is more convenient to use cob lime, it is essential that the lime be spread from the heaps as soon as fallen, and also, in order to Insure more effective distriJtmtion, the light harrows should be passed over about two or three days afterward, so as to scatter any lumps ’tfiat~may~not~have fallenin the heaps. “7 Unje UOt livered to the farm until all arrangements have been made for /its application, as loss will be occasioned by the bursting of the bags. (3) When ground limestone is used it should contain a high percentage of carbonate of lime.