Ground Limestone Proves Its Worth to Carteret Farmer, 1940

From “Carolina Farm Notes” by F.H. Jeter, Nov. 1940 issue of the Southern Planter

When Alex Taylor of Carteret County received his grant-of-aid limestone last winter, he was so disappointed in its appearance that he refused to apply it to the land. He said it looked like beach sand. It took his neighbor, Will Hardesty, three weeks to persuade him to apply it to his soil. At that, he only half-heartedly put it on a square of land near the house.

He planted that field in peanuts and when he cut the tops for hay this fall, he found that the limed land produced about four times hay as much as land where no limestone was used.

He and Mr. Hardesty then examined the plants for nuts and found equally as much difference. Now Mr. Taylor says one never can tell how good a material is by looking at it. This stuff that resembles beach soil is exactly what his land needed.