INSPECTION OF AGRICULTURAL LIME PRODUCTS 

 FOR THE SEASON OF 1938 



By H. D. Haskins, Official Chemist » 



Manufacturers and Brands 



During 1938, 25 firms registered for sale in Massachusetts 53 brands of lime 

 products, manufactured and sold for neutralizing acid soils, one brand of gypsum, 

 and one brand of agricultural talc. The products are grouped as follows: 



Hydrated or slaked lime 28 



Ground limestone 23 



Oyster shell lime 1 



Lime ashes 1 



Total 53 



Gypsum 1 



Talc 1 



The analytical results which appear in this bulletin represent, with but a few 

 exceptions where representative samples were furnished us by request, officially 

 drawn samples secured by the same sampling agents who drew the samples for 

 the fertilizer inspection. The samples came from a wide range of territory within 

 the State and it is believed that they are quite representative of the lime products 

 sold in the State as soil amendments. 



The following brands were registered in Massachusetts but were not officially 

 sampled by our inspectors. The two firms were requested to send us representa- 

 tive samples for analysis but the samples were not received. 



Dominion Lime Co., Lime Ridge, P. Q., Canada 



Dudswell Brand Agricultural Limestone 



Eastern States Farmers' Exchange, Springfield, Mass. 



E. S. Land Lime 



E. S. Magnesian Hydrated Lime 



Variations and Deficiencies in the Composition of Lime Products 



Of the lime products effective in neutralizing soil acidity, about 76 percent 

 of those analyzed fully met the minimum guarantee; of the 22 ground limestone 

 products, 2 showed deficiencies. The Solvay Pulverized Limestone, manufac- 

 tured by the Solvay Process Co., was 2.05 percent low in calcium oxide; however, 

 it tested 1.69 percent above the guarantee in magnesium oxide so that its neu- 

 tralizing value was but slightly impaired. The other product, of which five 

 samples were analyzed, was put out by the Bolton Lime Works. It showed an 

 average deficiency of calcium oxide and magnesium oxide of 3.72 percent and 1.13 

 percent respectively. The product is not a high grade limestone as it contains an 

 average of 23.84 percent of insoluble matter which is of no commercial value. 



Ten of the 26 brands, or about 38 percent of the hydrated lime products 

 analyzed, showed deficiencies in either calcium oxide or magnesium oxide, or both. 

 Seven of these deficiencies were not of a serious nature as overruns in one ingre- 

 dient largely compensated for the shortages in the other. Three brands, however, 

 were seriously low in both total oxides as well as in neutralizing value. 



The H. E. Millard's Sweet Arrow Hydrated Lime had a deficiency of 5.13 per- 

 cent of calcium oxide and an overrun of only .84 percent of magnesium oxide. 



The New England Lime Co.'s Agricultural Hydrate (Adams) showed a defi- 



1 Assisted by H. Robert DeRose, Assistant Chemist, J. T. Howard, G. E. Taylor and C. L. 

 Whiting, Sampling Agents. 



