RIGHT USE OF LIME IN SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



hard limestone may lie inert in the soil for 

 many years. Hardness also affects the cost 

 of grinding. 



A Matter of Distribution. Nature has 

 used various agencies in reducing limestone 

 for the making of soils. The stone con- 

 tained its lime in carbonate form, and when 

 reduced to good physical condition for dis- 

 tribution it helped to make highly pro- 

 ductive land. We know that lime car- 

 bonate does the needed work in the soil so 

 far as correction of acidity is concerned, 

 but in the form of blocks of limestone it has 

 no particular value to the land. Burning 

 and slaking afforded to man a natural 

 means of putting it into form for distribu- 

 tion, and it is only within recent years that 

 the pulverization of limestone for land has 

 become a business of considerable magni- 

 tude. The ground limestone used on land 

 continues to be in part a by-product of the 

 preparation of limestone for the manufac- 

 ture of steel, glass, etc., and the making of 

 roads, the fine dust being screened out for 

 agricultural purposes. These sources of 

 supply are very inadequate, and too remote 

 from much land that requires treatment 

 Large plants have been established in vari- 



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