DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY. 



J. B. LiNDSEY, Chemist. 



INSPECTION OF AGRICULTURAL LIME PRODUCTS 

 FOR THE SEASON OF 1923. 



BY H. D. HASKINS, CHEMIST IN CHARGE, ASSISTED BY L. S. WALKER AND S. J. BRODERICK. 



MANUTACTURERS AND BRANDS. 



During 1923, 19 different companies registered 20 different brands of agricultural 

 lime and 3 brands of gypsum or land plaster. The character of these products is 

 indicated by the following classification: — v 



Hydrated or slaked lime ............ 9 



Lime ashes .............. 5 



Precipitated lime ............. 1 



Ground limestone ............. 4 



Ground shell lime . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 



Total 20 



Gypsum or land plaster ............ 3 



With the exception of one sample of lime ashes and one sample of land plaster, all 

 of the products have been sampled and analyzed, and the results appear in the tables 

 of analyses. 



Products not Collected. 



Edward Bryant Co., 22 Central St., Boston, Mass., Tolman I^ime and Wood Ashes. 

 J. B. King Co., 17 State St., New York, N. Y., King's Nova Scotia Land Plaster. 



SLAKED, AIR SLAKED AND PRECIPITATED LIME AND LIME ASHES. 



From Table I it will be seen that, without an exception, the fifteen brands listed 

 showed the sum of the calcium and magnesium oxides to be equivalent to or in excess 

 of the minimum guarantee. One sample, the Berkshire Hills Company's Agricultural 

 Lime, showed a deficiency of 1.32 per cent of magnesium oxide, but an overrun of 9.60 

 per cent of calcium oxide which, by a large margin, more than balanced the deficiency 

 of magnesium. The New England Lime Company's Connecticut Agricultural Lime 

 showed a deficiencj- of 11.22 per cent of calcium oxide. An overrun of 11.83 per 

 cent of magnesium oxide shows that the product has not suffered in its power to 

 neutralize acid soils, by being deficient in calcium oxide. It is a well-knowTti fact that 

 several of these lime products show a variation in composition from year to year, a 

 relatively high content of calcium oxide being accompanied by a correspondingly 

 low content of magnesium oxide and vice versa. 



The Lime and Wood Ashes put out by the Missisquoi Lime Works showed an ab- 

 normally high percentage of acid soluble potash and phosphoric acid; the three 

 other brands showed about the average amount of these two ingredients. 



The fact that a considerable proportion of the human race possesses tlie gambling 

 instinct would seem to warrant a word of caution in the selection of lime ashes for 

 soil improvement. There is no question but that the product is an excellent source 

 of effective calcium and magnesium oxide, but it is a very uncertain source of potash. 



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