The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men. Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY, NOV. 24, 1891.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3021, 24 November 1891, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men. Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY, NOV. 24, 1891.

Those who occupied Waikato farms ia what are known aa '' the early cl-ivs," will have observed with considerably regret, tlio wholesale manner in which the red clovor has disappeared from our pastures. Now comers would scarcoly credit il r if wo gave instances, of the rough and ready stylo in which the virgin land v>as sown down in those daya, aud the luxuriant manner in which the clovor came and flourished for years. But a change was coming. Tho clover after producing heavy crops of hay or as pasture, fattening * several generations of bullocks, gradually died out, and wo know from practical agriculturalists that in most cases all attempts to get a good clover plant again has failed. To put it in their own words, " thoro was something in the soil when it waa first laid dgwu that soetns to have gone out of it, and now it is a waste of money to sow clover." Wo believe that tho constituent of the soil which "has gouo out of it" is simply lime. No crop requires limo in such abundance as clovor, and consequently uo crop exhausts i ho land of what lime it contains so quickly as clover. There is probably no munurial or, as some will have it, fertilizing agency which has been the subject of so much discussion as lime. Many hold that it is not it manure in a true sense at all, unci that its beneficial notion upon crops or pastures is merely due to its decomposing (.'fleet upon manurial elements already in the soil. Others contend that lime is distinctly a plant food, that the larger part of the important' elements of plants consists of lime,and that being a plant food, it must be u.s direct a fertiliser fin tho nitrate of soda. Liobig hiniKolf, great chemist as he was, at first, disputed the point, but finally admitted lime to be a necessary plant food, while at the same time practical farmers were sure of it, and used lime regularly upon their lands as a direct fertiliser. Professor W. V. Johnson, an unquestionable authority says: '■ Limo

is indispensable if enl'.ivatod plant* an; to Hmirisli and ripen. It increases the K-itility of all land in which .'inn , does not abound." Upon tlio question, "Tho Practical Farmer" (United States), siij's : "In many localities land has boon increased oijiht times in value by the uso of liinu alone. TLcso wore poaty, raoorhuid-r, which were dotioiont in liuao. In the oxporionue of thousands of faniiors it has boon found that limo is indospensable to tho growth of full crops of clover. More limo is used in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Delawaro than anywhere

else in the United States, and it is always used when wheat is sown, followed by grass and clover. Wherever it ia withheld the clover shows it in conspicuous lines across the field and the farmers' common bye-word is "No clover without lime." When potatoes are planted on a clover sod, they are heathful,vigourous and prolific. Why is this 1 simply, that the lime in the clover supplies the i 6 per cent, of lime which is found in the ash of the stems and leaves, and without these there can be no tubers."

Comiug home to our Waikato district what astonishing results have been noted in the few experiments carried out with the use of Kmo. Whether applied to the light land of Cambridge, or the heavy clay soils of the Waipa, lime appears to be equally efficacious. What Waikato land is deficient in and requires is lime. Whether the object be the restoring of the cloverfields, increasing our grain crops or turning out phenomenal yields from our gardens, the answer will we believe be the same—use lime.