Time Of Application
Categories:
ORGANIC MATTER
The use of lime on land should be associated in
the land-owner's thoughts with the growing of clover. It does help soil
conditions so that more grain can be produced, but if it is permitted
to displace the use of fertilizers, and does not lead to the growth of
organic matter, harm will result in the end. Lime should be applied to
secure clover, and therefore it should be mixed with the soil before
the clover is sown. T
e application may be made when fitting the
seed-bed for the grain with which clover usually is seeded, or may be
given a year or two years previous to that time. The important point is
to have the soil friendly to plant life when a sod is to be made.
Lime should be put on ground always after the plowing, and it should be
well mixed with the surface soil. Even distribution is just as
important in its case as in that of fertilizers. A good practice is to
break a sod for corn, harrowing and rolling once, and then to put on
the lime. A cut-away or disk harrow should be used to mix the lime with
the soil before any moisture causes it to cake. When large crumbs form,
immediate efficiency is lost.
If the application is light, and may barely be equal to immediate
demand, it is better practice to put on the lime when preparing the
seed-bed for the wheat or other small grain in which the clover will be
sown. It should never be mixed with the fertilizer nor applied with the
seed. The lime should go into the soil a few days, or more, prior to
the seeding. The soil having been put into a condition favorable to
plant life, the seeding and the use of commercial fertilizers should
proceed as usual.
Lime should never be mixed with manure in the open air, but it is good
practice to plow manure down, and then to use lime as indicated above,
if needed. If manure and lime must be used after the land has been
plowed, the lime should be disked well into the soil before the manure
is applied, and it is advisable that the interval between the two
applications be made as long as possible.