LIME, AND HOW TO USE IT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1676, 22 March 1890, Page 4

LIME, AND HOW TO USE IT.

There is no other fertiliser in use which requires so much judgment in its application. It must have acid or vegetable matter to work on. Where these do not exist in the soil they must be supplied. It will be observed that the quantity of lime required will be in proportion to the quantity of work it has to do. Much money and disagreeable labor have often been lost by applying too much lime, or more than was necessary. Where heavy coats of raw manure, or big stands of green soiling crops are ploughed in, 200 bushels to the acre may not be too much : but for a light coat of manure, 40 to 60 bushels to the acre would be ample. It is always best to put on in small quantities and repeat often say (50 bushels at a time for three times in different years. Even 15 to 25 bushels when worked into four or five times its bulk of manure, swamp muck, &c., will do a wonderful work on thin land, applied when lime is costly or scarce.

Lime, either alone or in compost, ought to be well worked into the soil to realise the full benefit. After the land has been stimulated enough to catch in clover or grass, then small quantities, say 50 bushels to the acre, spread upon the young grass, is a good way ; and, perhaps, one of the best ways, because of its convenience. But to put on large quantities in this way is wasteful because there is not a proportion of acid matter to decompose. In heavy clay soils the alkali may be retained until the ground is ploughed, and the sward turned down to come in contact with the lime ; but in porous, sandy soils the strength of the lime will have gone with the water below the reach of vegetation. It is best to apply lime in its hot, quick, or dusty state, as it distributes better in the spreading.