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CJ^i
Union
6. No. 6.
GASTONIA, N. C, FEBRUARY 8, 1912
One Dollar a Year
Ground
Limestone On The
1.
Farm
foiling side hills of East Tennessee we have
liniestone cliffs, ledges and bowlders on almost
®^oh farm; certainly in each neighborhood,
Ht notwithstanding all this we have proof
positive, piled mountain high in accumulated
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
^rm. Then why not blast out these limestone
eposits that are often in the way in our culti-
^^ted field, crush and reduce them fine enough
our soils, do this work right on the farm,
creby make a hindrance help us? This is
''^hat We are doing. This little portable lime
^uchine can easily be moved from farm to
^111, crush and grind whatever amount of
lirn
fin
c Is desired and moved on. One roll-jaw
c crusher so arranged that its product \vill
^ by gravity into a pair of plain balanced
^ s, with the elevators, all placed on a suit-
abl
c set of trucks, made up the machine. The
^ Usher jaws are S^io inches set one-half inch
at‘the bottom; the 12x12-inch rolls are
Set
^ one-eighth inch apart. They take the one-
luch and smaller product from the crusher
ele*^ ^^'^P^cte the reduction, all of which is then
'"uted and goes out as a finished product.
Scr^ product will pass an 8x8-inch
^ ^cn. Occasionally a small sliver the size of
sce^ ^ ^^^f^uibnail, one-eighth inch thick, will be
• The beauty about this system of rock
Uction is it can be operated out in the field;
tb never be too wet for reduction;
Pi^ f ^ ground indefi-
an "^^t^iout injury, is never too moist to
ov^ ^ ''^hen the field is dry enough to drive
• The machine can be set on a level piece
to t;he side elevator will take the stone
^^der’s stand and eliminate the cost of
by hand. No part of the machine
300 revolutions per minute, while the
^ doing heavy duty (crushing and grind-
^un ag slowly as 250 revolutions per
ypute.
form on the surface of rolls' that reduce the
wear on the tires to a minimum. When the
roller tires are worn they can be taken off and
replaced by new ones at small cost by ordinary
workmen, 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 re
quires least skil to operate with minimum ex
pense in wear and yet do the work, consuming
least power to produce a given amount. How
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 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 other
wise direct the work, so two boys, two ordi
nary 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 require 7 1-2 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. Allow
ing a reasonable recompense to the owner of
such an outfit, after the stone has been quar
ried, collected and ricked in a pile, 90 cents to
$1.25 per yard will cover the cost of reduction.
The cost to quarry and collect the stone will
vary also. If ledges and bowlders arc blasted
out of the way, getting rid of them will pay
any land owner, and if they arc valuable for
grinding, one is that much ahead.
true, but with us, having short, open winters,
the soil seldom frozen hard for any consider
able time, with an average rainfall of from 45
to 55 inches, it is easy to account for the fact
that our water is heavily charged with lime,
that we sec deposited in teakettles and steam
boilers. The lime in our soils and disintegrat
ing limestone deposits is carried away and off
the farm by drainage in much larger amounts
than is taken away by the growing or removal
of crops, and it is a fact, though few farmers
may know it, when quarrying limestone or
marble (which is pure lime, or calcium car
bonate) that the work must be done by other
means than blasting with any known explosive,
if the stone is to be used for either building or
monumental purposes. The simple facts are,
when you shoot any limestone you kill it; from
that moment it begins a rapid breaking down,
and when further reduced to as fine a product
as I have outlined, “thoroughly” (mind you,
I repeat thoroughly ( mixed with a soil in need
of it, the soil and other acids will attack the '
larger pieces (if there be left in the soil any
acidity not rendered basic or sweet by the 40
to 60 per cent of fine dust contained in this
ground lime) and break it down into fine
available lime at a rapid rate. These and other
forces beneath the surface of the soil under
our. feet drive the mills of the gods; that re
volve day and night, never ceasing, never
needing repairs; in this case, they grind at a
rapid rate and without further cost.—O. P.
N. Fox, Tennessee, in Rural New Yorker.
t\v * material from the crusher passes be-
rolls the reduction is accomplished
*^mst part by abrasion, one particle
^ another, while a coating of lime will
I.am^fullv awwe that it is claimed by many
agricultural scientists and writeTs that lini'e-
stone 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
Warehouse News.
President H. Q. Alexander and J. Z. Green,
of the State Farmers’ Union, were in Greens
boro last week in the interest of the half-mil-
lion-dollar central warehouse which the Union
proposes to establish in some North Carolina
city in the near future. These gentlemen held
a long conference with the directors of the
chamber of commerce, at which time the advis
ability of Greensboro was strongly pointed
out.
As explained by Dr. Alexander, the pro
posed warehouse is to secure a more equal dis
tribution of home products, to be a storage
(Continued on page five).
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