_Basic Slag._ The amount of effective lime in basic slag, as made by modern methods, is so small that its value is nearly negligible. Basic slag is a good source of phosphorus, and in addition has a tendency toward correction of soil acidity, but such tendency has little cash value for land that requires a considerable dressing of lime to furnish a base with which soil acids may combine. An expression of opinion was obtained recently from some leading soil chemists of this country, and upon such expression we base the estimate that when pulverized limestone costs three dollars a ton, the value of the lime in a ton of basic slag should not be placed higher than 50 cents, and some chemists believe that the lime content is entirely negligible as an agent in soil amendment. _Lime in Other Fertilizers._ The demand for lime is leading some men to state a lime content for their goods that is designed to mislead. Such lime is not in a form to combine with soil acids, and is as valueless as the very large amount of lime in acid soils that is in compounds having no power to affect free acids. CHAPTER XVI METHODS OF APPLICATION _A Controlling Principle._ The chief purpose of liming land is to provide a base with which acid may combine, so that the soil may be friendly to plant life. Lime has little power to distribute itself through a soil, and harmful acid may remain only a few inches distant from the point where lime has been placed. In a general way, the tendency of lime is downward, especially when the application at the surface is heavy. Economical use demands even distribution through the soil so that a sufficient amount is in every part. Means to that end are good means of distribution. _Spreading on Grass._ Where lime is burned on the farm, and little account of labor is taken, it has been a common custom to spread the lime on grass sods the year previous to breaking the sod for corn, using 100 to 300 bushels per acre. Rains carried some of the lime through the soil, and the increased yields for a few years were due to the improved physical condition of a stiff soil that a heavy application of caustic lime produces, and to the disintegration of organic matter and to change in compounds of mineral plant food. The practice is rightly going into disrepute, being wasteful and harmful. [Illustration: Filling the Lime Spreader at the Ohio Experiment Station] [Illustration: Lime Distributors]