128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



dry marl for $0, We pay $3.50 for lime at the quarry, and 

 pay $1.75 to get it out. We can buy marl for $6 a ton, and 

 burned limestone I think costs us $7. 



Mr. Wing. Burned limestone would be cheaper than the 

 marl at that rate. Now, I think you need a cheaper source ; 

 you need lots of places that are grinding it. Oyster shell 

 ground makes a good source. 



Mr. Ray. I think it costs about $5 a ton delivered, in 

 carload lots. 



Mr. Wing. We have worked up a cheaper source of sup- 

 ply in the west, for some reason, than you have here. We 

 do something that is rather a joke on the lime grinders. We 

 buy screenings from the limestone quarries that tliey mean 

 to sell to the concrete workers. We bviy it for 75 cents a 

 yard, and a yard is 2,800 pounds, and by putting it on in 

 larger quantities we get fine results. Some of you might be 

 so situated that you could get it. 



Mr. Ray. We can buy ground lime ash for about $7 

 a ton. 



Mr. Wing. Some lime and some potash in that. How- 

 ever, that is pretty expensive, too. 



Mr. W. L. Mitchell. I believe that many of yon are 

 not aware of the compulsory by-product of the lime from our 

 kilns and the lime burners, which I accidentally ran across 

 some years ago, and which is usually sold and delivered 

 under $7. In fact, we have a good quality of lime ash, of 

 which the supply is limited, but it costs not over $3, usually 

 a little less than that, carrying a little wood ash, with from 

 50 to 75 cents or $1 per ton of plant food value, often, and 

 from 45 to 50 cents worth of lime. 



Mr. Wing. Very good. 



Mr. Mitchell. Then we have a lot of stacked lime, a 

 by-product of the kiln, stacked sometimes higher than this 

 room, which is partly recarbonated and still takes a long 

 time to airslack through the stack, getting a little combined 

 moisture, which doesn't seem to show much more than the 

 hydrated, but costs about the same. That siii)ply is going 

 to be open. If you can get it on the basis of freight at $1.50, 

 for $4.50 per ton in hulk, with that plant food in it, it seems 



