Newspapers / The Carolina Union Farmer … / July 18, 1912, edition 1 / Page 4
Part of The Carolina Union Farmer (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Page Four the CAROLINA UNION FARMER [Thursday, July 18, 1912. The Use of Lime For Soil Improvement Pres. W. W. Finley of Southern Railway. To the Farmers of the Southeastern States; In connection with the work be ing done by the Southern Railway System to aid tn the development of agriculture in the territory traversed by its line, I have had occasion to make a thorough inquiry into the use of lime in its various forms for the improvement of soil conditions. This investigation has shown that there is a unanimous agreement of expert opinion that lime in some form will benefit many of the soils of the Southeastern States by cor recting their acidity and by improv ing their mechanical condition. Strictly speaking, lime is not a fer tilizer, and it cannot be used as a substitute for fertilizers. It is high ly beneficial where it is needed, but it is not needed on all soils. As its principal use is the correction of acid ity, and as some crops require a cer tain amount of acid in the soil, it would be a waste of time and money to use it on land that is not acid or on which it is proposed to grow crops which thrive best in an acid soil. Where it is practical for him to do so, it may be advantageous for the farmer to obtain expert advice from a State (Commissioner of Agricul ture, Agricultural College, Experi ment Station, or Agent of the United States Agricultural Department as to the use of lime. If the farmer is so situated that he cannot readily ob tain expert advice he may test his soil himself. In a bulletin issued by the Alabama Experiment Station direc tions for making such a test are giv en as follows: “A very simple and inexpen sive test can be made by any one to determine whether a soil is sour. Have your local drug gist order from a wholesale druggist a small bottle of blue litmus paper, which will usually retail at 15 to 25 cents per bot tle. This contains enough for testing a large number of sam ples. In the soil to be tested dig down to moist earth and then with a knife, or otherwise, make a slit in the moist soil; take a slip of blue litmus paper and touching it at ony one end. thrust it into the slit in the soil and press the damp soil tightly against both sides of the paper, leaving the paper and moist soil in contact for five minutes. Then take out the paper and dry it. If the color has changed from a blue to a pinkish tint, the soil may be regarded as slightly acid. If the change is to a deeper reddish color, the soil is quite acid and probably needs lime for .most crops. “In making the litmus paper test, be careful not to mistake for an evidence of acidity in the soil the reddish coloring brought about by the perspiration from the lingers that touched on the end of the paper which has been bandied.” Lime may be advantageously ap plied to lands in any one of several forms. The question as to which is the best form is one on which there is difference of opinion among ex perts, though the weight of opinion seems to be largely in favor of its use in’ the form in which it may be gotten most cheaply in any locality. Comparative tests at the Mary land Agricultural lOxiieriinent Station point to the conclusion that finely ground oyster shells give results that are not surpassed by those obtainei from the u.se of lime in any other form and there is no question that (he ground shells may be used to ad vantage in the comparatively restrict ed areas where they may be avai.- ble. Generally speaking, the South- f astern farmer will find himself lim ited to a choice between raw ground limestone and burnt lime. In order that the farmers of the Southeastern States may have the advantage of a wide range of opinion, I quote from the views of the experts: Dr. S. W. Fletcher, of the Virginia Experiment Station, whose views are endorsed by Dr. P. B. Barringer, President of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, writes as follows in Bulle tin 187 of the Virginia Experiment Station; “Burnt lime is probably more valuable than ground limestone or shells for correcting acidity in a sour soil, owing to its more vigorous and caustic action. However, but a very small por tion of the farm soils of Vir ginia are sour. Ground lime stone or shells, on the other hand, are probably somewhat less likely to burn humus out of the soil “Each material has special value for certain purposes. Quicklime is probably better for use on peat or muck soils, or wherever it is desired to hasten the decay of the organic matter in the soil, or when a soil is very acid. On the other hand, ground limestone or shells probably has special value for soils that are being prepared for the growth of leguminous crops, especially al falfa and clover, and is probably better on soils that are natural ly alkaline or nearly so, but which still respond to liming. “The following points are quite clearly established: “(1) Fine ground limestone or shells are not as valuable as burnt lime, pound per pound, when used for Improving farm soils; but are fully as valuable as burnt lime when used at the rate of 100 pounds of finely ground limesione or shells, as equal to fifty-six pounds of fresh burnt lime. “(2) The deciding factor, therefore, is the relative first cost of the two materials, to gether with the relative cost of getting them upon the land. At current prices of burnt lime it would not usualy pay to use ground limestone or shells un less they could be laid down on the farm for not to exceed $1.75 per ton.” Professor B. W. Kilgore, Director of the North Carolina Experiment Station, in a letter on the relative value of ground limestone and burnt lime, says: “When used intelligently and where needed, much good will come from the use of both of these products. Where the lime stone is finely ground, of good quality, and can be had at a rea sonable rate,- in comparison with burnt lime, we believe best re sults will come, in the long run, from the use of it rather than burnt lime. The price of ground limestone in the past, and at present, has been too great to al low of its general use, consider ing results to be obtained. I can see no reason why this product should not be sold to farmers at a much lower figure than at present, if up-to-date machinery were installed for grinding and handling it. Under such condi tions it would be largely used with good results on many of our soils.” Professor J. N. Harper, Director of the South Carolina Experiment Sta tion, in a letter on this subject, says: “We have found by careful experiments that burnt lime, when applied at the rate of 1,- 500 to 2,000 pounds per acre, is most beneficial on all Piedmont soils. We obtained a sufficient increase in the yield of cotton the first year to pay for the lime and the crop of peavines the second year was considerably in creased on the lime plots above the check plots. “At our Coast Experiment Sta tion, near Summerville, we ob tained splendid results from the use of marl, also from burnt lime. In every case where lime was used the increased .yield in the crop was more than 100 per cent. All soils of the Coastal Plain, when drained, should re ceive an application of lime rang ing in amount from 1,500 to 3,000 pounds per acre. One ap plication is usually sufficient to last for several years.” In Bulletin No. 4, issued by Dr. Andrew M. Soule, President of the Georgia State College of Agriculture, the following advice is given: “Most of our Georgia soils are deficient in lime, and evidently many of them are acid. When the soil is acid bacteria life can not develop in it as rapidly as is desirable. Lime may be used for the purpose of improving the mechanical condition of the soil, stimulating bacteria life, cor recting acidity, and setting free unavailable forms of plant food. Various forms of lime may be used. Ordinarily, a ton of caus tic lime per acre will be found a fairly satisfactory application. Very finely ground limestone rock provided it runs high in carbonate of lime may be used in the place of the caustic lime. Where this practice is followed at least two tons of finely ground rock should be applied, and even more may often be used to great advantage, especially with le guminous crops. The caustic lime is more active and may of ten be applied with best advant age to soils in bad physical con dition and which contain a small amount of vegetable matter. Where the soil contains an abun dance of humus and its physical condition is satisfactory the finely ground rock had best be applied. Lime is a soil amend ment and the calcium which it contains may often be of service to plants. It is serviceable in putting tbe soil into condition to respond to tbe use of commer cial plant food. Caustic lime should, of course, not be mixed with the fertilizer formula con taining nitrogen or phosphoric acid as it will tend to set the nitrogen free and cause the phosphoric acid to revert into an unavailable form. Lime should ordinarily be applied some time in advance of fertil izer applications .It is best to use it in the fall. Break the ground deeply and thoroughly and use as a top dressing about thirty days before planting. This ap plies to the use of caustic lime. The ground rock should be ap plied much earlier; in fact, it itiay be distributed in the late fall with advantage on land to be planted in spring crops, such as corn and cotton.” Professor P. H. Rolfs, Director of the Florida Experiment Station, in a paper on the use of lime, summa rizes his conclusions as follows: “(1) Lime in its various forms should not be regarded as a fer tilizer but as a soil corrective. “(2) The total increase in farm crops from the use of lime has been very great. “(3) The possible total in crease of farm crops from the proper use of lime is enormous. “(4) To secure this increase in crops, each farmer must know whether his fields need the soil corrective or not. To apply the soil corrective without such knowledge will result in many disappointments.” In Bulletin No. 14 0, issued by the Kentucky Experiment Station, Mr. George Roberts, Chemist of the Sta tion, says: “Lime may be applied as freh- ly burnt lime, as air-slaked lime, or as ground limestone. The lat ter form is preferable for the reason that it is much more agreeble to handle, more easily applied, and can be applied in any quantity without damage to the soil. Freshly burnt lime ap plied in large quantities may in jure the organic matter of the soil through its caustic proper ties. Lime is very valuable in loosening up stiff clay soils. It enables soil to form and retain ‘crumb’ structure, which is so necessary to good cuitivation. In buying and in applying ground limestone, it should be remembered that it takes 100 pounds of ground limestone to equal fifty-six pounds of burnt lime, granting that both are pure. So one must watch the price of ground limestone, for what may seem a smaller price for the limestone may really be a higher price for the lime con tained.” Dr. 11. A. Morgan, Director of the' Tennessee Experiment Station, where some especialy vaiuable experiments have been carried on, summarizes his views as to the comparative values of burnt lime and ground limestone as follows: “One thousand pounds of burnt lime will correct about the same amount of acidity as 2,000 pounds of ground lime stone. In immediate efficiency burnt lime is without doubt greatly superior to the same quantity of lime in the unburnt form; that is, 1,000 pounds of burnt lime when properly slaked and applied to the land would be expected to neutralize a greater amount of acidity and bring about greater physical and other changes in the soil for the first year, or perhaps for several years, than 2,000 pounds of the ground limestone. This would be due to the greater fineness of the burnt lime, as used, and to its ready solubility. Also its caustic nature would probably cause chemical changes in the soil organic matter which would not follow an application of ground limestone. “In a series of field experi ments which have run for seven years at the Experiment Station of Tennessee 1,800 pounds per acre of. burnt lime was found to increase very profitably - such crops as cowpeas, wheat, corn, and especially clovers. Even this light application was found, however, to be somewhat waste ful of the soil supplies of both nitrogen and humus. Numerous experiments have been conduct ed on various Tennessee soils with ground limestone used at the rate of 4,000 pounds pe*" acre, and this application has
The Carolina Union Farmer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 18, 1912, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75