j 
Vol. LXXI. No. 4136. 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 3, 1912. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
GROUND LIMESTONE ON THE FARM. 
Prepared at Low Cost in Tennessee. 
Here in the limestone valleys and gently rolling 
side hills of East Tennessee we have limestone cliffs, 
ledges and bowlders on almost each farm; certainly 
in each neighborhood, yet notwithstanding all this 
we have proof positive, piled mountain high in ac¬ 
cumulated scientific and experimental evidence, that 
our soils are deficient in lime. This fact was con¬ 
clusively settled in our minds in the early eighties 
and nineties by experiments with and without lime, 
side by side tests on Crowell Farm. Then why not 
blast out these limestone deposits that are often in 
the way in our cultivated fields, crush and reduce them 
be too wet for reduction; the lime can lie in a pile 
on the ground indefinitely without injury, is never 
too moist to apply when the field is dry enough to 
drive over. The machine can be set on a level piece 
of ground, the side elevator will take the stone to 
feeder’s stand and eliminate the cost of elevating by 
hand. No part of the machine has over 300-revolu¬ 
tions per minute, while the parts doing heavy duty 
(crushing and grinding) run as slowly as 250 revolu¬ 
tions per minute. 
As the material from the crusher passes between 
the rolls the reduction is accomplished for the most 
part by abrasion, one particle upon another, while a 
coating of lime will form on the surface of rolls that 
reduce the wear on the tires to a minimum. When 
to bring stone from rick or pile, and one man to 
sledge down from quarry to required sizes and feed 
to elevator, while one man having a knowledge of 
engine can easily overlook it and lime machine, keep 
in needed repair, and otherwise direct the work, so 
two boys, two ordinary farm hands and one man of 
experience can easily operate the machine and produce 
from 10 to 20 yards per day of 10 hours. It will re¬ 
quire l l /z to eight horse power to operate; and when 
moving from place to place over ordinary roads a 
traction steam engine from 12 to 15 horse power will 
easily do this work. Our engine is 13 horse power. 
Allowing a reasonable recompense to the owner of 
such an outfit, after the stone has been quarried, col¬ 
lected and ricked in a pile. 90 cents to $1.25 per yard 
A PORTABLE OUTFIT FOR CRUSHING LIMESTONE FOR FARM PURPOSES. Fir,. 33. 
fine enough for our soils, do this work right on the 
farm, thereby make a hindrance help us? This is 
what we are doing, Fig. 33. This little portable lime 
machine can easily be moved from farm to farm, 
crush and grind whatever amount of lime is desired 
and moved on. One roll-jaw fine crusher so arranged 
that its product will feed by gravity into a pair of 
plain balanced rolls, with the elevators, all placed 
on a suitable set of trucks, make up the machine. The 
crusher jaws are 5x10 inches set one-half inch apart 
at the bottom; the 12xl2-inch rolls are set one-eighth 
inch apart. They take the one-half inch and smaller 
product from the crusher and complete the reduction, 
all of which is then elevated and goes out as a fin¬ 
ished product. Not all of this product will pass an 
8x8-inch screen. Occasionally a small sliver the size 
of one’s thumbnail, one-eighth inch thick, will be seen. 
3 he beauty about this system of rock reduction is it 
can he operated out in the field; the stone can never 
the roller tires are worn they can be taken off and 
replaced by new ones at small cost by ordinary work¬ 
men, requiring no tools save the wrenches furnished 
for this work, so it is the machine is safe in the hands 
of ordinary workmen. I mention this especially from 
the fact we all know expenses must be kept down, if 
we are to have ground lime at a price we can afford 
to pay, and I know of no better way than by selecting 
machinery for this work that requires least skill to 
operate with minimum expense in wear and yet do the 
work, consuming least power to produce a given 
amount. Flow many tons per day of 10 hours and what 
is the cost to operate, are questions of vital interest, 
and will, like all other questions on or off the farm, 
largely depend upon the man behind the plow. Its 
capacity is from 10 to 20 yards (weighing when dry 
about 3,000 pounds each) per day of 10 hours. One 
smart, quick boy can easily fire the boiler and keep 
up steam; a like boy can feed the crusher. One man 
will cover the cost of reduction. The cost to quarry 
and collect the stone will vary also. If ledges and 
bowlders are blasted out of the way, getting rid of 
them will pay any land owner, and if they are valua¬ 
ble for grinding, one is that much ahead. 
I am fully aware that it is claimed by many agri¬ 
cultural scientists and writers that limestone for the 
soil must be reduced so 90 per cent will pass a screen 
of 100 meshes to the square inch. In certain sections 
this may be true, but with us, having short, open 
Winters, the soil seldom frozen hard for any consid¬ 
erable time, with an average rainfall of from 45 to 
55 inche , it is easy to account for thv. fact that our 
water is heavily charged with lime, that we see de¬ 
posited in teakettles and steam boilers. The lime in 
our soils and disintegrating limestone deposits is car¬ 
ried away and off the farm by drainage in much larger 
amounts than is taken away by the growing or re¬ 
moval of crops, and it is a fact, though few farmers 
