INSPECTION OF AGRICULTURAL LIME PRODUCTS 

 FOR THE SEASON OF 1928. 



By H. D. Haskins, Official Chemist, Assisted by M. W. Goodwin. 



Manufacturers and Brands. 



Twenty-seven different brands of lime and two brands of gypsum or land plaster 



were registered in Massachusetts in 1928 by 19 different firms. The products are 

 as follows: 



Hydra ted or slaked lime 14 



Ground limestone 9 



Lime ashes 2 



Precipitated lime 1 



Ground shell lime 1 



27 



Gypsum, or land plaster 2 



The samples for analysis were drawn from widely distributed areas in the 

 state between the dates of April 1 and June 1, by the same agents who drew the 

 samples of commercial fertilizer. They used a sampling tube which takes a core 

 the entire length of the bag, and sampled 10 per cent of the bags present but never 

 less than ten sacks provided that number was present. Representative samples 

 were secured of all lime products registered with the exception of the Ground 

 Limestone manufactured by the Connecticut Agstone Co., 307 Main Street, Dan- 

 bury, Conn. 



Hydrated or Slaked, Precipitated and Air-Slaked Limes and Lime Ashes. 



Reference to Table I shows that out of the 19 brands analyzed only five showed 

 deficiencies in calcium or magnesium and no one of the five showed a deficiency in 

 both ingredients. In two of the five the combined oxides of calcium and mag- 

 nesium found were in excess of the combined oxides guaranteed. In one case 

 (Farnam-Cheshire Lime Co.'s Berkshire Hills Co. Brand) the .69 per cent calcium 

 oxide deficiency was more than made up by the overrun of 6.98 per cent of mag- 

 nesium oxide. In case of the product of the Miller Lime Products Corp., the 

 deficiency of 5.49 per cent of magnesium oxide was more than balanced by the 

 overrun of 13.99 per cent in calcium oxide. On two other brands showing defi- 

 ciencies, the Producto Hydrated Lime, Brewer & Co., Inc., manufacturers, and Lee 

 Agricultural Hydrated Lime, Lee Lime Co., manufacturers, it is the writer's belief 

 that the magnesium oxide guarantee should be reduced. In case of the Adams 

 Lime Ashes, Hoosac Valley Lime Co., Inc., manufacturers, the low calcium oxide 

 test recorded was no doubt due to the wet condition of the product (22.4 per cent 

 of water being present). Greater care should be exercised in protecting these lime 

 dumps from rains and snows, if the lime is to be offered for sale for agricultural 

 purposes. In other words, the purchase of a lime product carrying 448 pounds of 

 uncombined water in each ton is poor economy. 



Ground Limestone and Shell Lime. 



With two exceptions the guarantees on this class of products were well main- 

 tained. The Monarch Agricultural Limestone, Miller Lime Products Corp., 

 manufacturer, showed a deficiency of 3.74 per cent magnesium oxide, which was in 

 part made up by an overrun of 2.94 per cent calcium oxide, so that the actual 



