est when skimped in any
way. As we raise the percentage of carbonate of lime in land that
naturally is deficient, we give increasing ability to such land to take
on some of the desirable characteristics of a limestone soil. It is poor
business to be making a hand-to-mouth fight against a state of actual
acidity unless the cost of more liberal treatment is prohibitive. The
most satisfactory liming is done where the expense is light enough to
justify the free use of material. When this is the case, extreme
fineness of all the stone is undesirable. There is the added cost due to
such fineness and no gain if the finer portion is sufficient to correct
the acidity, and the coarser particles disintegrate as rapidly as needed
in later years.

_Loss by Leaching._ Another valid argument against extreme fineness of
the stone used in liberal applications is the danger of loss by
leaching. Soils are so variable in their ability to hold what may be
given them that it is idle to offer any estimate on this point. The
amount of lime found in the drainage waters of limestone land teaches no
lesson of value for other land, the excessive loss in the former case
being due oftentimes to erosion that creates channels through the
subsoil, through which soil and lime pass.

[Illustration: A Limestone Pulverizer for Farm Use (Courtesy of the
Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, Columbus, Ohio)]

[Illustration: A Lime Pulver in Operation (Courtesy of the Jeffrey
Manufacturing Company)]

But we do know the tendency of lime to get away, and the use of several
tons of fine stone per acre may easily be followed by loss in many types
of soil. It is wholly reasonable to believe that some portion of such an
application should be coarse enough to stay where put until needed by
exhaustion of the finer portion. It is upon this theory that coarser
material often is preferred to the very finest.

_What Degree of Fineness?_ Assuming that the farmer is in a position to
store some carbonate of lime in his land for future use, giving the soil
an alkaline character for five or 10 years, the degree of fineness of
the stone is important, partly because there will be distinct loss by
leaching from many types of soils if all the material is fine as dust,
and specially because less finely pulverized material can be supplied
him at a lower price per ton. Much by-product in the manufacture of
coarse limestone for other purposes contains a considerable percentage
of mate