Amount Of Lime Per Acre

Soils Vary in Requirement. There is always the insistent question

respecting the amount of lime that should be used on a particular field.

Usually no definite reply can be safely made. The requirement of the

present, and probably of the next few years, should be met by one

application. The existing degree of acidity is an unknown quantity until

a careful test has been made. There are soils so sour that several tons

of fresh burned lime per acre would only meet present requirement, and

there are soils so soundly alkaline that they need none at all. This

uncertainty regarding amount required is responsible for much failure to

do anything, even when some acidity is indicated by general appearance.



A Working Basis. If land has once been productive and in later years

clover has ceased to grow and grass sods are thin, there is a strong

probability that liming will pay, and the experience of farmers on

normal soils, and the tests of experiment stations, justify the

estimate that two tons of fine stone, or one and a quarter tons of fresh

burned lime per acre, can be used with profit. This amount probably will

permit fertilizers and tillage to make their full return in heavy sods

that will provide humus. It is a reasonable expectation that the

application will serve through a crop rotation of four or five years.



If the soil was not very sour, the second application at the end of four

or five years may be reduced somewhat, and even a ton of stone given

once in the crop rotation may fully meet the requirement.



In the case of the normal soil that has ceased to grow clover, and does

grow plants that are acid-resistant, it is better practice to secure a

relatively low-priced supply of coarsely pulverized stone and apply

three or four tons per acre, and thus lengthen the interval between

applications to eight or 10 years. The fine material in the heavy

application will take care of present need, and the coarser particles

will disintegrate later on.



The quantities suggested may not be the most economical for the reader,

but their use cannot be attended by loss if a soil is sour, and there

is reason to believe that it is much better to use such quantities

without question than to defer liming for a year in the hope that some

more definite knowledge of a particular field's needs may be secured.



Small Amounts Per Acre. There is much experience as a basis for the

claim that a few hundred pounds of burned lime per acre may have marked

results. Fields that indicated an actual lime requirement of a ton of

fresh lime per acre have had a test of 500 pounds per acre made in

strips, and the clover later on was so superior to that which was

struggling to live in the untreated portion that the light application

appeared almost to be adequate. In such land there cannot be full

bacterial activity or continuing friendliness to plants unless the need

is met fully. A larger application would have paid better. It is the

soil rich in lime that can make the best response to tillage and

fertilization.



A Heavy Soil. When burned lime is not high in price, an application of

two tons per acre may be more profitable than a smaller one. A heavy

soil needs to be richer in lime than a light one for best results, and

physical condition also is improved by the larger quantity. A

correspondingly heavy coat of stone will give quite satisfactory

results, but effect upon the texture of the soil is less marked.



Sandy Soils. It is inadvisable to apply any large quantity of caustic

lime to a light soil. Such a soil does not need as high a percentage in

it as a heavy soil requires for good results, and caustic lime can

easily injure physical condition. Limestone is safe for use, and is to

be advised for all quite sandy land. Acidity rarely runs high in a light

soil, and the opinion is hazarded here that one ton of stone per acre

meets the needs of a light soil about as surely as two tons supply a

heavy soil. In case of each type of soil there are wide exceptions, and

yet these estimates form a basis for the judgment of the individual

farmer.