THE FARMER AT HOME. 249 



called quick-lime, they have a strong tendency to combine with water. 

 Thus if water be sprinkled upon quick-lime, it becomes very hot, and 

 crumbles into a dry powder, and is called slacked lime, or hydrate of 

 lime, owing to the water having become consolidated with it and an 

 essential part of the lime. And when quick-lime has been some 

 weeks exposed to the air, it falls into powder, in consequence of the 

 absoption of the moisture in the air. The uses of lime are various. 

 The most important of them are in the manufacture of mortar and 

 other cements used in building, and as a fertilizing agent in agricul- 

 ture. 



^The paste of lime and water, called mortar, has a degree of ad- 

 hesion and ductility, though much less than clay. When dry, it is 

 more or less friable, like chalk. A mixture of sand, or broken earthen 

 vessels, greatly increases its firmness, which it seems to effect by ren- 

 dering it more difficult for the parts to be removed with respect to 

 each other. When mortar is left to dry by the gradual evaporation 

 of its superfluous water, it is very long before it obtains its utmost 

 degree of firmness. But if dry quicklime be mixed with mortar, it 

 gradually absorbs the superfluous water, and the mass becomes solid 

 in a very short time. 



The best lime for agricultural purposes is that which is lightest, 

 whitest, softest to the touch ; the purest and strongest lime is always 

 found the lightest. If, then, by calcination, limestone loses much of 

 its weight by this process ; if the lime shells are extremely light, and 

 require for slaking them fully, a large portion of water ; if they are 

 a considerable time before they begin to fall ; if during the process of 

 burning, the limestone is not disposed to run or become vitrified ; if it 

 increases very much in bulk by slaking, and the lime is a pure white, 

 and fine and light to the touch, it may be set down as very good, and 

 should be used in preference to other lime not possessing the same 

 qualities. The use of lime is increasing in agriculture, and is found 

 by those who understand the nature and design of it, to be attended 

 with the best results. Where it has failed, the loss has arisen from 

 want in its application, and not from any want of fertilizing capability 

 in the article itself. 



LINEN. In Commerce. The linen manufacture was probably 

 introduced into Britain with the first settlements of the Romans. The 

 flax was certainly first planted by that nation in the British soil. The 

 plant itself indeed appears to have been orignally a native of the east. 

 The woolen drapery would naturally be prior in its origin to the linen, 

 and the fibrous plants from which the threads of the latter are pro- 

 duced, seem to have been first noticed and worked by the inhabitants of 

 Egypt. In Egypt, indeed, the linen manufacture appears to have 

 been very early ; for even in Joseph's time, it had risen to a consider- 

 able height. From the Egyptians the knowledge of it proceeded pro- 

 bably to the Greeks, and from them to the Romans. 

 11* 



