THE GEl^pSEE FARMER. 



11 



though it had been slaked by pouring on water. 

 In this case the lime lias obtained the twenty-five 

 per cent of water it needs to slake it from the at- 

 mosphere. There is this difference, however, lie- 

 tween air-slaked lime and that which is water- 

 slaked. The former is slaked precisely as the latter 

 hy the al)sorj)tion of water, but it also absorbs car- 

 l)onic acid from the air, and instead of being simply 

 a hydrate of lime as when water-slaked, it is a defi* 

 nite compound of hydrate and carbonate of lime, 

 42.6 per cent of the former, and 57.4 of the latter. 

 Air-dal-ed lime, therefore, is tar from being so 

 caustic as water-slaked — upwards of one-half of it 

 !»eiiig reconverted into the same chemical state as it 

 was in before burning. 



After the lime has absorbed sufficient water and is 

 completely fallen to pieces, carbonic acid is absorbed 

 Jimch less rapidly, especiidly in damp situations. 

 Ill fact, though there is a constant tendency in lime 

 to return to the 'state of carbonate in which it exis- 

 ted previous to burning, yet, by mere exposure to 

 the air, it does not attain tliis stateinany assignal)le 

 time. In some walls 600 years old, the lime has 

 been found to have absorbed only one-fourth of the 

 carbonic acid necessary to convert the whole into 

 carbonate; in othei"s, built by the Romans 1800 

 years ago, the proportion absorbed has not exceeded 

 three-fourths of the quantity contained in natural 

 limestone. 



When slaked in the ordinary way, by the appli- 

 cation of water, lime falls to pieces without the ab- 

 sori)tion of but little if any carbonic acid. But 

 when slaked and exposed to the air, the absorption 

 of carbonic acid is at first very rapid, but it gradu- 

 ally becomes very slow, and probably the same de- 

 finite compound of hydrate and carbonate of lime 

 is formed as in the case of air-slaked lime. 



The original limestone, or any other form of car- 

 bonate of lime, then, is perfectly mild. By driving 

 off the carbonic acid by heat, we get dime which is 

 \'ery caustic. By slaking tbis with water, we get a 

 less caustic substance — hydrate of lime. By allow- 

 ing it to air-slake, we get a still less caustic com- 

 pound—a definite compound of hydrate a^ndcarl)on- 

 ate of lime. And by exposing it to the air for a 

 sufficient length of time, we ultimately get the whole 

 reconverted again into its original mild form — car- 

 bonate of lime. 



Yalve or Shelter for Sheep. — Mr. E. Cat- 

 TELLj of Harrisville, Ohio, has tried keeping sheep 

 both with and without shelter, and has come to 

 the conclusion that it takes from half a htisJiel 

 to a lushel more corn to winter a slieep without 

 than with shelter. 



\ 



CUTTING UP MEAT IN THE LONDON MAEKET. 



In this country, less attention is generally paid 

 to the difference in quality of the various joints 

 of meat than in England, where some pieces from 

 the same animal command more than double the 

 price of others. In our large cities, however, meat 

 consumers are beginning to discriminate between 

 the best and inferior joints, and the butchers will 

 pay a higher price for such animals as will furnish 

 the greatest proportion of first quality meat. In a 

 recent conversation with one of the most extensive 

 and experienced cattle dealers in the United States, 

 he observed that, in purchasing animals for the 

 Boston and New York markets, the great cause of 

 success or failure is due to the observance or neglect 

 of this point. Many dealers pay the same price per 

 pound for an inferior animal, with coarse, heavy 

 fore quarters, as for one of an improved breed ; but 

 when they got them to Boston or New York, they 

 found that the butchers would pay from $10 to $20 

 more for the latter than for the former, though 

 both were of the same weight. When this matter 

 is better understood, farmers will pay more atten- 

 tion to breeding the best cattle. They will find 

 not only that improved animals mature earlier and 

 lay on fat more rapidly for the food consumed, but 

 that the same weight of meat commands a much 

 higher price. 



We have thought a few illustrations of the man- 

 ner in which carcasses are cut up in the London 

 market, together with the prices usually obtained 

 for the various pieces, would not be without inter- 

 est to our readers. 



After a carcass of beef has been divided by cleav- 

 ing down the chine into two sides, the division of 

 the side into hind and fore quarters (shown in fig. 1) 

 is a tbllows: — The spine between the dorsal verte- 

 brre, or links of the back, from which the eleventh 

 and twelfth ribs spring, is divided ; and a cut is 

 made from that ])oint nearly square to the spine, 

 but witliout reference to the direction of the ribs ; 

 tlu'ee of which are sawn obliquely across to a point 

 opposite the shoulder point, and then continued 

 fcn-ward to the posterior extremity of the breast- 

 bone; which division of the side into quarters is 

 shown in the figure by the strong line a, 5, c. Erom 

 the inside the bone of the pelvis is sawn through ia 

 an oblique direction, and the hind quarter divided 

 into two parts by the line commencing from the 

 nach at ^ to a point at e above, and a little in front 

 of the hip joint, and afterwards continued from e 

 to h. The principal division of the fore quarter ia 

 into three parts : first, by a line from g at the pos- 

 terior part of the neck, to / above, and just behind 



