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] | |
| 1. | Clover and Timothy Unfertilized at the Pennsylvania Experiment Station Yielded 2,460 pounds per acre | [10] |
| II. | Clover and Timothy with Lime alone at the 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 (Courtesy of the Michigan Limestone Company.) | [33] |
| XI. | A Limestone Pulverizer for Farm Use (Courtesy of the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, Columbus, Ohio.) | [38] |
| XII. | A Lime Pulver in Operation (Courtesy of the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company.) | [39] |
| 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 (Courtesy of the Palmer Lime and Cement Company, York, Pa. | [53] |
| 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.