<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-2022-jp"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Consolas;
panose-1:2 11 6 9 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0mm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoPlainText, li.MsoPlainText, div.MsoPlainText
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Plain Text Char";
margin:0mm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:10.5pt;
font-family:Consolas;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0mm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0mm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
p.MsoNoSpacing, li.MsoNoSpacing, div.MsoNoSpacing
{mso-style-priority:1;
margin-top:5.0pt;
margin-right:0mm;
margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:0mm;
mso-add-space:auto;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
p.MsoNoSpacingCxSpFirst, li.MsoNoSpacingCxSpFirst, div.MsoNoSpacingCxSpFirst
{mso-style-priority:1;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:5.0pt;
margin-right:0mm;
margin-bottom:0mm;
margin-left:0mm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
p.MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle, li.MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle, div.MsoNoSpacingCxSpMiddle
{mso-style-priority:1;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin:0mm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
p.MsoNoSpacingCxSpLast, li.MsoNoSpacingCxSpLast, div.MsoNoSpacingCxSpLast
{mso-style-priority:1;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0mm;
margin-right:0mm;
margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:0mm;
mso-add-space:auto;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
span.PlainTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Plain Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Plain Text";
font-family:Consolas;}
span.apple-style-span
{mso-style-name:apple-style-span;}
span.EmailStyle21
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-CA link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Dear Christa<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>That is what I heard at the time. Is there not a different application that continues? I am thinking of something reported on <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/permaculture/mailarchives/permaculture-links/msg00175.html">http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/permaculture/mailarchives/permaculture-links/msg00175.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>where it says <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>“</span><a name=perspective><b><i>For Forests:</i></b> <o:p></o:p></a></p><p style='margin-left:36.0pt'>The results of long term experiments released in 1986 showed that <b><i>in a forest where pine seedlings were remineralized, after 24 years the wood volume was four (4) times higher</i></b> than in the untreated area.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>This is quite a different approach to the SO<sup>2</sup> (SO<sup>3</sup>, actually) killing trees issue (which was well covered at the same time).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>“</span><b><i>For Agriculture:</i></b> <o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin-left:36.0pt'>The best source of soil minerals is simple crushed gravel dust. In 1976 John Hamaker spread gravel crusher screenings on part of his ten acres in Michigan. The following year, in an area of sparse rainfall and dry summers, <i>and with no irrigation</i>, his corn produced 65 bushels per acre, compared to yields of under 25 from other local farms. <o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin-left:36.0pt'>Moreover, when independent analyses were done, Hamaker's corn was found to contain 28% more protein, 47% more calcium, 57% more phosphorous, 60% more magnesium and 90% more potassium than the same type of corn grown with chemical fertilizers nearby. <o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin-left:36.0pt'>Twenty years ago the USDA published studies which showed that cement kiln dust (a less-satisfactory source of minerals) also produced better crops, but they couldn't understand "what element" in the dust was responsible and dropped the matter. <o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin-left:36.0pt'>Don Weaver grew 18-foot pole beans on remineralized soil (Jack and the Beanstalk?) and got <i>two to four times the normal organically grown yield</i>. Alan LePage of Vermont grew a crop of carrots averaging 1-1/2 feet long. And there was no insect damage to any of these crops. Hamaker estimates that on fully remineralized soil, American agriculture could grow <i>four times</i> as much food as it is capable of now -- or the same amount of food at about one-fourth the cost -- and with no pesticides or chemical fertilizers. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>So this is more like what Dr AD was talking about: making minerals available. Is it not true that if SO<sup>3</sup> were acidifying the soils, it would make more minerals available through accelerated decomposition? Buffering with lime would tend to reduce the acidity and limit the availability of minerals, correct? I think it just killed the trees directly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It is interesting that the permaculture site also points out that the minerals are not there to be available to plants directly, but to micro-organisms:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>“</span>Remineralization causes a phenomenal growth of the microorganisms in the soil. It increases the nutrient intake of plants. It counters the effects of soil acidity, prevents soil erosion (just for that reason it would be worth applying rock dust), increases the storage capacity of the soil, contributes to the building of precious humus complexes, has anti-fungal properties, and when you spray it on plants it repels insects as well. The plants and trees become highly resistant to insects, disease, frosts, and drought. Remineralization also enhances and speeds up the process of composting, so if you're composting for your garden, consider putting on some rock dust. It can be even more effective than just directly applying it to the land.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>As very little of the forest in Europe was ‘dusted’ and it all recovered there is a case for arguing that the SO2 was responsible. The action of SO3 (not SO2 as I read it) is directly on the leaves so I wonder if putting ground limestone on the soil would make any difference? I am pretty sure that what I was reading did not involve limestone but was for minerals to be replenished, not a change in the pH of soil.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>In the early 90’s a paper <u>Rock Dusts in Agriculture: Insights on Remineralization and Paramagnetism</u> By Steve Diver<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> <a href="http://www.paramountgrowth.com/images/rockdust_sdiver01.pdf">http://www.paramountgrowth.com/images/rockdust_sdiver01.pdf</a> talks about remineralising soils in order to promote healthy soil in order to prevent the return of the next ice age, which he and others quoted saw as being caused in part by humans (the coming anthropogenic global ice age).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>“</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Composters who amend their windrows with rock dust say the trace elements contained in the rock<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Minerals function as biocatalysts in microbially-driven enzyme reactions critical to the breadkdown and buildup process”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Yeah. That is what I was referring to. Some people were doing that in the forests in Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Adding ground rock to forests or anything else seems to have started to be popularised by the book “Bread From Stones” by Julius Hensel in the 1880’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I looked around and did not find a single reference to ground limestone being applied but that only means I didn’t perhaps look enough. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It would be really interesting to see a knowledgeable combination of Dr AD’s sugar treatment, powdered granite and biochar applied to farming. They all seem to be centred on changing the bacterial environment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Regards<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Crispin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0mm 0mm 0mm'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>+++++++</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Crispin, if you refer to the activities in the 80s to combat the effects of 'the Waldsterben' due to acid rain, that rock was limestone to mitigate the acidity... and it did help on a short-term basis. the long-term mitigation though came when they cleaned up the sulfuric emissions from the high chimneys that caused the acid rain in the first place.<o:p></o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>