LIMESTONE 179 



METHODS OF APPLYING LIMESTONE 



No single method need be followed in applying limestone to the 

 land, but it should be spread as evenly as practicable. This may be 

 done by hand with a light shovel, either from the wagon or from 

 small equal-sized piles placed at regular intervals. Thus, a pile of 

 100 pounds every 33 feet each way makes two tons to the acre. 

 It can easily be thrown 16 or 18 feet with a shovel. 



A spreader made for the purpose of applying ground limestone 

 or rock phosphate is very useful. There are some fairly satisfactory 

 machines on the market at the present time. Several spreaders 

 are manufactured that serve well for applying ashes, slacked lime, 

 or other light materials, but most of them are not suited for han- 

 dling such heavy materials as limestone and rock phosphate. 



The directions given below are similar to those published by the 

 Ohio Experiment Station for a " home-made " spreader which 

 any farmer can have made, and which is more satisfactory for 

 spreading these heavy materials than some of the machines on the 

 market. 



Make a hopper similar to that of an ordinary grain drill, measur- 

 ing inside 8| feet or n feet long with sides about 21 inches wide 

 and about 20 inches apart at the top. The sides may be trussed 

 with f-inch iron rods running from the bottom at the middle to 

 the top at the ends of the hopper. Let the bottom be 5 inches wide 

 in the clear, and cut in it crosswise a row of diamond-shaped holes, 

 2 inches wide, 2\ inches long, and 4 inches apart (6 inches between 

 centers). Make a second bottom with holes in it of the same size 

 and shape as those of the main bottom, and so shaped that they 

 will register. Let this second bottom slide loosely under the first, 

 moving upon supports made by leaving a space for it above bands 

 of strap iron 12 inches apart, which should be carried from one 

 side to the other under the hopper to strengthen it. The upper 

 bottom piece may be of about 8-inch sheet steel, and the lower 

 one may be of smooth, seasoned hard wood, about i inch thick 

 and 7 inches wide, reenforced with strap iron if necessary, and 

 well oiled or painted. To this under strip, attach a V-shaped arm, 

 extending an inch in front of the hopper, with a half-inch hole in 

 the point of the V, in which drop the end of a strong lever, bolting 



