SECRETARY'S REPORT. 153 



it would behave in tlie kiln, I burned a large specimen, and found 

 that it would bear a full red heat without melting in the least, and 

 that it came out of the furnace a mass of solid and good lime, of a 

 light brown color, slaking completely with water, and making a 

 good strong mortar. In slaking it gains 40 per cent, weight of 

 water, which indicates its capacity of bearing as full a proportion 

 of sand as any lime in use." Following the suggestion of Dr. J., 

 lime was at one time burned in this town, but as the enterprise did 

 not prove successful, it was abandoned. For building purposes 

 the mortar from this lime was stronger than that from any other, 

 but the presence of considerable quantities of flint, made it neces- 

 sary to strain the mortar before it was used. For agricultural uses 

 it was valuable. 



Beds of limestone are also found in most other towns in the 

 county, but it is usually overlaid by a hard kind of porphyritic rock, 

 which has been thrown up through the limestone, and has pro- 

 duced considerable distortion in the strata. The deposits most 

 worthy of notice for their abundance, are found in Athens, Bloom- 

 field, Harmony, Cornville, Lexington and Skowhegan. Blue lime- 

 stone occurs in Bingham. Much of the soil in the county is 

 deficient in lime, and the great benefit arising from its use is too 

 well known by most farmers to be particularized here. It gives 

 me pleasure, however, to present, in a condensed form, the remarks 

 upon this topic, by Dr. Eeynolds, in his very able paper upon the 

 agriculture of Middlesex county, Mass. :* " Lime is rapidly ex- 

 hausted from the soil by cultivation, when the products are 

 removed, and especially is this the case where the principal pro- 

 ducts are fruits, grain and milk ; for this reason, lime applied in 

 any form is productive of good-. Sulphate of lime, carbonate of 

 lime, and phosphate of lime in the form of ground bones, have a 

 marked effect upon crops, and a free use of them are needed to 

 restore the fertility of worn out lands. Farmers very often ask the 

 question, how much lime it is best to put upon the soil ? the appli- 

 cation of which depends in a great measure upon the condition 

 and nature of the soil. Lime is not so much a nutritive element of 

 plants as a means of rendering other elements in the soil soluble, 

 and bringing them into a condition to be readily taken up by the 

 plants and digested. Where there is insoluble humus in the soil, 

 the lime combines with it, and I'enders it soluble. Thus where a 



* Transactions Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. New Series, 

 vol. 1, p. 170. 



