218 MEAlX)WS AND PASTURES 



tons per acre. Useful to most plants, it is simply indis- 

 pensable to alfalfa. There is absolutely no doubt that 

 the fresh ground limestone is safer and better than any 

 other form of lime when one is using large amounts in 

 the soil. I rejoice that recently many have been taught 

 to believe in this, and doubtless this year has seen applied 

 to fields destined to grow alfalfa at least 100,000 tons of 

 carbonate of lime in the form of ground limestone, many 

 using 4 tons to the acre, some using 6, some 8 and some 

 10 tons. Further, I have been able to induce manufac- 

 turers to make portable grinding machines that will go 

 direct to the farm and grind into dust the limestone rocks 

 that may be stored in the soil or strewn over it, and 

 many of these machines are in use from Pennsylvania 

 to Georgia. I have, then, a pretty fair knowledge of 

 w r hat it will cost to make into an alfalfa field land now 

 unfit because of lack of lime. To buy ground lime- 

 stone on cars in Illinois costs about 85 cents a ton- 

 this where it is ground by the state with penitentiary 

 convicts. In other states private capital is grinding it 

 and selling it for around $i to $1.25 per ton. When 

 it is shipped and delivered to farms it costs commonly 

 about $2 to $2.50 per ton. When the farmer grinds 

 it himself and puts it on his soil from rocks that lay scat- 

 tered over his pastures it costs less than $2 a ton, and 

 some estimate it as low as $1.25. Further, when land is 

 sweetened by the use of large amounts of ground lime- 

 stone, it remains sweet for many years. Afterward ap- 

 plication of an occasional dressing of a ton to the acre 

 will ordinarily suffice in most regions to keep established 

 alfalfa in a vigorous, profitable condition. 



