INSPECTION OF AGRICULTURAL LIME PRODUCTS 

 FOR THE SEASON OF 1940 



By Philip H. Smith, Official Chemist 



and 



J. W. Kuzmeski, Senior Chemist ' 



Manufacturers and Brands 



During 1940, 23 firms registered for sale in Massachusetts 49 brands of lime 

 products, manufactured and sold for neutralizing acid soils, two brands of gypsum, 

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



Hydrated or slaked lime 26 



Pulverized and ground limestone 21 



Oyster shell lime 1 



Lime ashes 1 



Total 49 



Gypsum 2 



Talc 1 



The analytical results which appear in this bulletin represent officially drawn 

 samples secured by the same sampling agents who drew the samples of commercial 

 fertilizer which served for the inspection of that commodity; the samples there- 

 fore came from every section of the state and are, we believe, representative^ 

 the lime products sold in Massachusetts as soil amendments. 



We were not successful in securing samples of the following brands: 



Bluepoints Co., Inc., Water Street, East Providence, R. I. 

 Sealshipt Brand Oyster Shell Dust 



Brewer & Co., Inc., 45 Arctic Street, Worcester, Mass. 

 Green Mountain Handy Hydrate 

 Lime Kiln Ashes 

 Producto Agricultural Lime 



Eastern States Farmers' Exchange, Springfield, Mass. 



Eastern States Land Lime 



L. A. Howard, Proctors vi lie, Vt. 

 Howards Agricultural Talc 



Rockland-Rockport Lime Co., Inc., Rockland, Maine 

 R-R Land Lime, Special High Magnesia 



Solvay Process Co., Syracuse, N. Y. 

 Solvay Pulverized Limestone 



Variations and Deficiencies Found in the Composition 

 of Lime Products 



Of the lime products effective in neutralizing soil acidity, about 71 per cent of 

 those analyzed fully met the minimum guarantee; of the 20 ground limestone 

 products, S showed deficiencies. Some of the deficiencies were not of a serious 

 nature as the companion ingredient was present in sufficient excess to more than 

 make up the full neutralizing value of the product as based on the stated guar- 

 antee. The same may be said of the hydrated lime products where 7 out of 22 

 brands, about 32 per cent, showed deficiencies. The tables of analyses will show 

 the extent of variations from the guaranteed composition. 



'Assisted by H. Robert DeRose, Albert F. Spelman, Leo V. Crowley and Francis J. Farren, 

 Chemists; J. T. Howard, L. A. Graves, and C. L. Whiting, Sampling Agents; George E. Taylor, 

 Laboratory Assistant, Cora B. Grover, Clerk. 



