CHAMPLAIN DIVISION. 
411 
with the slate rocks, but frequently its beds are so thick, and the masses of the ledges so 
broken, that scarcely any traces of stratification are visible. 
This limestone is important, in consequence of its extensive application to the manufacture 
of lime. This business is not carried on extensively in Columbia county, but in Dutchess, 
at and near Barnegate, much lime is made. 
The limekilns at Barnegate are kept burning constantly, from the opening of the river in 
the spring until the closing of it in winter, without allowing them to cool. The method 
pursued here is, after the kiln is once kindled, to charge about a half a ton of anthracite coal 
broken to the egg-size, then three hundred to three hundred and fifty bushels of limestone in 
lumps of twenty to thirty pounds each, and at the end of twelve hours another charge of coal 
and limestone ; and so on, until the kiln is filled. They then draw out about three hundred 
and fifty bushels of lime from the bottom, and introduce another charge of coal and limestone ; 
and every twelve hours this process is repeated. This operation is continued for months, as 
in a high furnace for smelting iron. A great economy is thus introduced,* the kiln being 
always kept heated, and the caloric which would escape in the common mode of manufacture 
is here expended in heating other portions of limestone, and preparing it for the high tempera¬ 
ture necessary to expel the carbonic acid. About seven hundred bushels of lime are thus 
obtained daily from each kiln, with a consumption of a little less than a ton of coal. 
Coal is delivered at the kiln at six dollars per ton ; so that the expense of fuel is less than 
one cent per bushel, and that of attending kilns does not exceed one cent more, and the ex¬ 
pense of raising and carting the stone is very trifling. Lime is sold on the wharf at six and a 
quarter cents per bushels ; and vessels are always waiting for their cargoes, and take the lime 
as fast as it is burned. 
This manufacture is the only business of any importance in Barnegate ; six kilns are in 
constant operation, and there are others in the vicinity. About six thousand bushels are burnt 
per diem for nine months in the year, equal to seven hundred and twenty thousand bushels 
per annum. There are numerous other limekilns in Dutchess county, and it cannot be far 
from the truth to estimate their annual product at 1,500,000 bushels ; this, at 65 cents per 
bushel, would yield an income of $93,750, and a nett profit of at least $30,000. 
* The relative economy introduced by this method of burning, may be calculated from the fact, that in Connecticut, 
•where lime is burnt -with wood, and the kilns allowed to cool between each burning, thirty-five cords of wood are em¬ 
ployed to burn seven hundred bushels at Brookfield, and forty cords to burn one thousand two hundred bushels at Read¬ 
ing.* Allowing wood to be worth two dollars and fifty cents per cord, the expense of fuel for burning is twelve and a 
half cents per bushel in the first, and eight and one third cents in the second case. The perpetual kilns of Pennsylvania 
yield seven hundred bushels of lime for every eight cords of wood, and one and a half tons of anthracite consumed.t In 
New-York, two thousand bushels of lime are burnt with twelve cords of wood.! We see here a striking example of the 
variable quantity of combustible to produce the same effect, and how great a sa'ving may be made in this manufacture by 
judicious management. We have no knowledge of any limekilns that employ so small a quantity of combustible as those 
of eastern New-Yofk. • 
* Shepard’s Mineralogical Report of Connecticut, p. 82. 
52* 
Idem, p. 87. 
t Idem. 
