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By ROGER E. GISH, Director 



lAA Soil Conservation Activities 



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There Is No State Law Requiring The Producers And 

 Sellers Of Limestone To State Quality Of Material But 

 Quarry Tests Are Available At Your Farm Adviser's Office. 



I 



l.ALDE Iiarlo\> rtsti'd a foot on 

 the fence as he waited for his 

 neighbor, Jim Hritt. to drive his 

 tractor on out to the end of the 

 fifld. "Let "er cool a minute. Jim. 

 F want to ask you something. My al- 

 falfa and clover are .not lookinj; so good 

 this year. Do you suppose I need sonic 

 more limestone':*" ' 



"Well." said Jim, "I've noticed on 

 soil maps that the soil types on your 

 farm and mine are similar, so they 

 would likely require ahout the same 

 treatment. Hut I was sure I needed 

 limestone last fall hecause 1 had soil 

 tests made to tell me how much 1 

 needed." 



"I was talking to Will Haulit." said 

 (llaude. "and he said he hauls from? the 

 Truckers' Pit Quarry over in the comer 

 of the county. I've heard that the qiia:- 

 ry price at the Shii)ping I'oitit Quarrv 

 is cheaper l>ut the freight costs to get 

 it here eats you u|).'" 



"It all de|)cnds on relative cost on the 

 qualitv vou get. "'replied Jim. "Lime- 

 stone costing a little hit more might he 

 worth the difference. I understand there 



is a lot of ditfereiice in limestone." 



And Jim is absolutely right. There 

 is a lot of dilTerence in limestone sold 

 in the state. W hen you buy a bag of 

 fertilizer, the analysis is on the bag and 

 the contents are guaranteed by law. 

 There is a lot of difference in fertilizer.^, 

 as for e.xample, a 4-16-16 is obviously 

 worth much more than a 2- 12-6, but 

 at least you are not buying a "pig in a 

 poke" with the analysis in plain sight on 

 the bag. Illinois has no limestone law. 

 and producers and .-ellers are not re- 

 quired by law to state the quality of the 

 material. 



.Among other things, the director of 

 the lAA department of soil conservation 

 activities visits quarries and takes sam- 

 [)les of limestone offered to farmers, 

 ."^amjiling is done at the quarry where 

 the material is divided and a portion 

 left for the operator to have check tests 

 made if he desires. Information on 

 calcium carbonate equivalent, fineness 

 of grinding, jirice. amount produced and 

 location of each quarry is passed on to 

 the farm advisers in the trade area sur- 

 rounding a given (piarrv. 



riiere v\ere 91- quarries visited during 

 the last several months. The calcium 

 carbonate equivalent of material pro- 

 duced varied from 72 to J-iU for a few 

 (piarries. while several quarries' mate- 

 rial tested ](!() or better. Six quarries 

 had a test of lO.o per cent calcium car- 

 bonate equivalent. The question often 

 arises as to how a material can test 

 more than 100 per cent. This is possible 

 with a rather jiure stone high in mag- 

 nesium. 



Magnesium is lighter by weight than 

 lalcium but neutralizes as much acid 

 per carbonate unit. Thus, a higl| mag- 

 nesium stone may test more than 100 

 per cent based on the C.C.K. of a cal- 

 cium limestone. The lower testing ma- 

 terial is suitable for correcting soil 

 acidity. However, it is obvious that 

 material testing 72. for example, would 

 not be as valuable as material testing 

 105 (^C.E. One-half as much again 

 would have to be applied to the soil to 

 obtain the same neutralizing value. The 

 average calcium carbonate equivalent of 

 limestone offered was 93.7. 



Fineness of grinding varies from 62 

 for two quarries to 100 per cent through 

 an eight mesh screen on one quarry 

 visited. The average fineness of grind- 

 ing was SI. 6 per cent through an eight 

 mesh screen which has eight openings to 

 the linear inch, or 61- ojienings per 

 s(piare inch. The requirement for agri- 

 cultural limestone in Illinois is that it 

 have a calcium carbonate equivalent of 

 at least !!0 and that at least JIO per cent 

 pass an eight mesh screen to qualify for 

 full I'MA payment. 



(Continued on P'lae 30) 



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L A. A. RECORD 



