Dime Kilns.—Directions for Managing the Dung-hill. 
or four slits of an inch wide for admitting the air, which 
enters through the canal h. The under part of the 
shaft from the fire to the hearth, is 7 feet, and the outer 
enclosing Wall is constiucted of limestone, the lining 
being of fire-bricks. Here are the ash-pit i, the dis¬ 
charge outlet a, and the canal k, in front of the outlet. 
Each ash-pit is shut with an iron door, which is opened 
only when the space i becomes filled with ashes. 
These indeed are allowed to remain till they get cool 
enough to be removed without inconvenience. 
The discharge outlets are also furnished with iron 
doors, which are opened only for taking out the lime, 
and are carefully luted with loam during the burning. 
The outer walls Imn of the kiln, are not essentially 
necessary, but convenient, because they afford room for 
the lime to lie in the lower floor, and the fuel in the 
second. The several stories are formed of groined 
arches o, and platforms p, covered over with limestone 
slabs. In the third and fourth stories the workmen 
lodge at night. See fig. 22. Some enter their apart¬ 
ments by the upper door q; others by the lower door s. 
r is one of the chimneys for the several fire-places of 
the workmen, t u v are stairs. 
As the limestone is introduced at top, the mouth of 
the kiln is surrounded with a strong iron balustrade to 
prevent the danger of the people tumbling in. The 
platform is laid with rails w, for the wagons of lime¬ 
stone, drawn by horses, to run upon, x is another 
rail-way, leading to another kiln. Such kilns are named 
after the number of their fire-doors, single, twofold, 
threefold, fourfold, &c.; from three to five being the 
most usual. The outer form of the kiln also is deter¬ 
mined by the number of the furnaces; being a trun¬ 
cated pyramid of equal sides ; and in the middle of each 
alternate side, there is a fire-place, and a discharge 
outlet. A cubic foot of limestone requires for burn¬ 
ing, one and five-twelfths of a cubic foot of wood, and 
one and a half of turf. 
When the kiln is to be set in action, it is filled with 
rough limestone, to the height c d, or to the level of 
the firing; a wood fire is kindled in a, and kept up till 
the lime is calcined. Upon this mass of quicklime, a 
fresh quantity of limestone is introduced, not thrown 
in at the mouth, but let down in buckets, till the kiln 
be quite full; while over the top a cone of limestone is 
piled up, about four feet high. A turf-fire is now kin¬ 
dled in the furnaces b. Whenever the upper stones are 
well calcined, the lime under the fire-level is taken 
out, the superior column falls in, a new cone is piled 
up, and the process goes on thus without interruption, 
and without the necessity of once putting a fire into a; 
for in the space c b, the lime must be always well cal¬ 
cined. The discharge of lime takes place every 12 
hours, and it amounts at each time in a threefold kiln, 
to from 20 to 24 Prussian tonnes of 6 imperial bushels 
each; or to 130 bushels imperial upon the average. 
It is found by experience, that fresh-broken limestone 
which contains a little moisture, calcines more readily 
than what has been dried by exposure for some time to 
the air; in consequence of the vapor of water promot¬ 
ing the escape of the carbonic acid gas; a fact well 
exemplified in distilling essential oils, as oil of turpen¬ 
tine and naptha, which come over with the steam of 
water, at upwards of 100 degrees F. below their natu¬ 
ral term of ebullition. Six bushels of Rudersdorf quick¬ 
lime weigh from 280 to 306 pounds. 
When coals are used for fuel in a well-constructed 
perpetual, or draw kiln, about 1 measure of them 
should suffice for 4 or 5 of limestone. 
The most extensive employment of quicklime is in ag¬ 
riculture, on which subject instructive details are given 
in Loudon’s Encyclo. of Agriculture and Gardening. 
(From thr Plymouth (Eng.) Htrald.) 
Practical Directions for the Place and Management of 
the Dung-heap. 
Farmers have generally found out the advantage of 
having a dung-pit instead of a dung-heap ; but still the 
rich drainage of the dung is much of it allowed to run 
away; the urine from the stables, &c., does not half 
of it run into the dung, though it is the best part, the 
essence of the whole; and the privy manure, which is 
better still, is mostly neglected altogether. 
All drainings from the stables, cow-houses, and 
styes, should run into the pit, and the overflowings 
should be caught in another pit, to throw back in dry 
weather. 
The following is a cheap and effectual method of 
doing all this :—When convenient, the pit should be on 
the north side of a wall, or of some trees, to shade off 
the sun; or under a shed, to keep off both sun and 
rain ; but these advantages cannot always be had with¬ 
out too much cost. 
Having selected the best place for your pit, first lay 
in way soil, peat, or any soil as different as possible 
from that of your farm, and give it a hollow surface, 
like a great tea-saucer. Upon this lay potato stalks, and 
any other vegetable matters, easy to ferment, and 
hereupon a layer of dung. Next a layer of vegetable 
matter, as peat, turf, bark, rotten weeds, ferns, leaves, 
or any kind of dead vegetable, to increase your 
quantity; and so every week, cover your dung from 
the stables, styes, &c., with three or four times as 
much dead vegetable matter; thus making up your 
heap in alternate layers. The urine should all run 
into the pit from stables and all, by narrow drains, 
where it will not be much exposed to evaporation ; and 
another such drain should lead from it to a lower pit, to 
catch the overflowings when there are any ; and keep 
them to throw back upon the dung in dry times. This 
lower pit should be deeper and smaller than the other, 
and must never be allowed to overflow, as that would 
be waste. It may contain cabbage stumps, and other 
things difficult to work, which may be thrown back 
upon the heap as they rot. 
The lower pit may be used as a store of liquid ma¬ 
nure, for watering young corn, in May or June; which 
gives it a start, and much strengthens its growth. 
In leaky ground, the bottom of the pits should be 
staunched with clay; and stones or gravel stamped in, 
to harden it. 
The privy should discharge into the large pit, if pos¬ 
sible, or else into the small one; and coal ashes (but 
not wood ashes,) are good to throw where this comes 
out. Saw-dust or turf-dust from the stacks do very 
well. House-washings, as soap-suds, &c., should also 
be thrown on the heap; but the wash of the country, 
and heavy floods of rain should not be allowed to enter 
it, but be led into the meadows by other channels. 
In wet seasons, the top should be slanted to turn off 
the rain. 
Each layer of dung being covered with a layer of 
peat or other dead vegetable matter, the whole heap, 
when finished, should be crusted over with way soil, or 
other earth, to retain the vapors. 
The fermentation will be slower or quicker, as it is 
more or less covered and compressed. 
Wherever your heaps are made, whether in the yard 
or the field, give them a bed of some sort to absorb the 
drainage, and crust them over with soil, and mix all up 
with the dung before spreading. The drainage carries 
down the strength of the heap; sometimes enough to 
kill the seed in the place where the heap stood; whilst 
it would have been of the greatest benefit if spread out 
with the dung. 
