• IRON ORE. LIMESTONE, AND COAL. F\ 103 



5th. Supply of water for washing the ore if necessary. 

 6th. Quality of the iron — freedom from phosphorus. 

 7th. Suitability of the ore for the smelting process. 

 8th. Distance from the furnaces — cost of hauling. 

 9th. Price of the ore delivered at the furnaces. 

 No ore bed in Perry county now fulfills all these condi- 

 tions sufficiently to yield much profit to those who work it. 



Lime and its use upon land. 



The only minerals of commercial value yet discovered in 

 this county are limestone and iron ore. The former is al- 

 most confined to the Limestone ridge and other outcrops of 

 of the Lewistown limestone. 



Immense quantities of stone have been taken from differ- 

 ent parts of Limestone ridge, largely as a flux when the 

 furnaces were in blast, and since then for liming land, for 

 which it is well suited. 



All the limestone in the county is low in magnesia, much 

 almost a pure carbonate of lime. It yields consequently a 

 ' 'hot" or ''fat" lime, less convenient for the purposes of 

 the builder than the "cool" "lean" lime derived from the 

 dolomitic limestones of other places. It slakes soft, and 

 crumbles down to powder, showing that it possesses little 

 or no hydraulic properties, and therefore is low in alumina. 



No hydraulic limestones or cement beds are worked in this 

 county, and, so far as I have leaned, none have ever been 

 found there. Attempts have been made to burn some of 

 the calcareous shales at the base of the black shale for this 

 purpose, but without success. 



The vexed question of the advantages and disadvantages 

 of liming land has not been solved in Perry countv. Both 

 sides have strong advocates. Men who have persistently 

 limed the black shaly land for many years maintain that it 

 has much improved under the treatment. But the general 

 disuse of lime of late in the county is an argument on the 

 other side. Probably both views would be considerably 

 modified if all the concomitant circumstances were taken 

 into the account. The experience of farmers in this region 



