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While not all this land has fallen into the lime-deficient class, and the great part of some states remains alkaline, the tendency toward acidity is continuous. Crop production in great portions of the Mississippi valley is restricted by lack of lime in the soil, and some states to the eastward have one-half to nine-tenths of their acreage too low in lime for the best results.
We treat only of averages when saying that a "lime country" shows a prosperity in its farm buildings and general appearance that does not come naturally and easily to any lime-deficient territory.
The total area of lime-deficient soil is large, comprising certainly much more than half of all the land east of the semi-arid belt of the United States.
It does not follow that every farm in such limestone valleys as the Shenandoah, Cumberland, and Lebanon, or in the great corn belt having a naturally calcareous soil, is prosperous, or that a multitude of owners of such lime-deficient areas as the belt in a portion of southern New York and northern Pennsylvania, or the sandstone and shale regions of many states, have not overmatched natural conditions with fine skill.
The decidedly lime-deficient sections, advertising their state by the kind of original timber, and later by unfriendliness to the clovers, do not attract buyers except through relatively low prices for farms. Such areas are extensive and have well marked boundaries in places.
It does not follow that the land has gone down in value to the naturally lime-deficient class, but its power to produce is impaired, and will remain so until there has been restoration of its original alkaline state. Sorrel and Plantain. We determine quite surely the state of the soil by observance of the vegetation that roots in the surface soil and the immediate subsoil.
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