Letters

THIRTY YEARS OF PROGRES

Editor's Note: Dealer PROGRES lately published a special commemorative issue prior to merging with FARM CHEMICALS. K Elliott Nowels, former Dealer PROGRES editor/publisher and now a vice president at Meister Publishing, received this note regarding his closing editorial, "Agents of Change."

Thanks thus much for your issue upon "30 Years of PROGRESS."I was feeling the crushing of the "perfect storm" and having disarrange seeing the sun at the extremity of the storm. This issue reminded me of past challenges that we have met and mastered. I was level feeling a little blue about your merger After I read "Agents of Change" and saw your picture with Mr Fitzgerald [Meister Publishing president], I felt renewed and ready to face the challenge. Thanks for the boost when I extremityed it the most.

Good fortune with your new position.

Lee Ward UAP/Richter Blandinsville, IL

A LESS-ON IN LIME

After reading the article, "The Value of VRA Lime," (Dec 2000 FC p 20) I'd like to make a certain number of key points:

There are sum of two units important considerations in determining what liming material to use: ease of handling and quality of the outcome By quality, I'm referring to the percent of calcium carbonate and the fineness. The percent of calcium carbonate numbers what the potential neutralizing power is. For example, 80% calcium carbonate (CaCO3) means that sole 1,600 pounds (lbs.) of each 2,000 lbs. can neutralize. That percent also is telling the grower that the other 20% is something other and the grower needs to know what that something other is, especially if it's something he doesn't want upon his land. He also straits to know the fineness, because coarse particles don't work.

Another consideration is what harvests are being grown. If the grower uses nitrogen, he has to overbear the nitrogen before he will affect his pH It takes 18 lb of unpolluted fine calcium carbonate to neutralize 1 lb of applied nitrogen.

Finally, the grower wants to know the cation exchange capacity (CEC) and the organic matter to give him an idea of what to wait for in changing his pH. The higher the CEC and organic matter, the longer it will take to change the pH and he may have to live with creating a friendly environment for his semens each year.

Larry E Moore Humboldt IA

Copyright Meister Publishing Company Mar 2001

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