No. 2. 



Analysis of Limestone. 



m 



of late years. Mildew, rust, Hessian-fly, 

 grain-worm, and now an additional one in the 

 wheat — while our Indian-corn is equally be- 

 set with heart-worm, wire-worm, cut-worm, 

 &c., and the rye also about equally precarious. 

 While the farmer's wits are thus set to 

 work, endeavouring' to counteract these evils, 

 would it not be well for all to reflect, that the 

 finger of Providence may be in if! 



Respectfully, Jabez Jenkins. 



P. S. I think the Mediterranean wheat 

 may now be relied on as a safe crop — and, 

 therefore, intend sowing it chiefly the ensuing 

 fall, as I did last year. 

 West Whiteland, Chester co., 8 mo. 7, 1840. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Analysis of Limestone. 



Sir, — As a proper degree of attention 

 seems at length about to be paid to the quality 

 of the lime used for agricultural purposes, it 

 is very desirable that the plain practical 

 farmer should be enabled to conduct an ana- 

 Ij'sis of the diflljrent stones that he might 

 have near him, that he may be able to judge 

 how far it will answer his end to go farther 

 for an article, better suited to his purpose. 



A friend has this day informed me, that he 

 finds the lime which he has been in the habit 

 of using on his lands, in Jersey, to require a 

 long time to slake, if left to the influence of 

 the atmosphere ; and he particularly men- 

 tioned a quantity, which was deposited by the 

 side of one of his fields last autumn, for 

 spring use; but, on removing it at that sea- 

 son, it still remained, in great part, unslaked, 

 requiring about a hogshead of water to com- 

 plete that process, after months of exposure. 

 This lime has always been of injury to the 

 crops rather than otherwise, immediately at 

 the time of spreading, especially if applied 

 in large quantities, the spots on which it has 

 been dropped remaining naked and barren 

 for about the first year afterwards. He, how- 

 ever, mentioned another sort of lime, which 

 falls down after a few days' exposure to the 

 atmosphere, in the first instance, into a gra- 

 nular state, somewhat like coarse sand, but 

 immediately after, into a pulverized mass as 

 fine and white as flour ; this lime does no in- 

 jury to vegetation at the time of spreading, 

 but rather, has immediate good effect on ap- 

 plication, going farther too, by about one- 

 half, in the process of liming, than any other 

 he has ever used; he has been informed that 

 the cause for this difference arises from the 

 fact, that this lime contains no magnesia. 



The following mode of analysis is so sim- 

 ple, that any farmer may now indulge him- 

 self in the examination of the different stones 

 in his neighbourhood, and thus be enabled to 



derive a ten-fold advantage from that most, 

 important mode of renovation, which must 

 become of primary consequence in the im- 

 proved style of agriculture, which every one 

 must now adopt, as a measure of self-defence. 



R. 



ANALYSIS OF LIME. 



" Lime is ranked, by chemists, among the 

 alkaline earths, by which term is meant those 

 earthy substances which exhibit characters 

 similar, in many respects, to the true caustic 

 alkalies, potass, soda, &c. It is always pre- 

 pared by heating its native carbonate or lime- 

 stone, to a temperature sufficiently high to 

 drive off all the carbonic acid and water 

 which it contains, so that, were limestone 

 composed of nothing else but carbonate of 

 lime and water, pure lime alone would be 

 left after burning : this, however, is never the 

 case, as other substances, especially alumina, 

 silica, iron, and often magnesia occur, mixed 

 with the lime ; but, in good specimens, these 

 should be in very small quantities, as, of 

 course, I need hardly say, that their presence 

 diminishes the value of the specimen, in di- 

 rect proportion to their quantity. On this 

 account, the proportion of lime contained in 

 any new specimen of limestone, should be 

 accurately determined before applying it to 

 agricultural purposes, more especially, if 

 there should be any reason for suspecting the 

 presence of magnesia, which we have so re- 

 peatedly said is injurious to vegetation, par- 

 ticularly in its caustic state. 



On this account, we shall give a ^evi direc- 

 tions for the examination of limestone, which 

 we trust will not be considered out of place. 

 Let us suppose, then, that the experimenter 

 is not particularly desirous of ascertaining 

 the exact constitution of the limestone which 

 he is about to examine, but merely wishes to 

 discover whether it contains any considerable 

 quantity of magnesia, alumina, or iron. 



1st, Let him take 100 grains of the sample 

 to be analyzed, and dissolve it in one ounce 

 of strong muriatic acid (spirit of salt) mixed 

 previously with about two ounces of pure 

 (rain) water ; when the effervescence (owing 

 to the escape of carbonic acid) has entirely 

 ceased, if any thing is left undissolved, it must 

 be separated from the solution, by filtration 

 through white blotting-paper, and the insolu- 

 ble matter, when dried and weighed, may be 

 noted down as silica. 



2d, The operator must next add to the fil- 

 tered fluid, successive portions of strong am- 

 monia (hartshorn), until the liquid smells of 

 this substance ; any thing which is thrown 

 down during this operation must be separated 

 by filtration ; this will consist of alumina and 

 iron ; the proportion of the latter being judged 

 by the darkness of the colour, (pure alumina 

 being white). 



