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.