244 
SLAKING LIME FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. 
either substitute a rotation of crops, or allow the 
land to lie idle, which is most generally done. 
Each prairie farmer must own a sufficient quantity 
of timber for the purposes of fencing and building. 
There are three considerations, with many of less 
importance, which contribute to swell the average 
expense of producing wheat on the western prairies 
to probably thirty-live cents per bushel. 
I subjoin the expenses of an acre without the 
cost of the land, for the first crop. For subse¬ 
quent crops the plowing would be fifty cents per 
acre. 
For plowing an acre of sod, 
- $2.00 
One and a half bushels of seed, 
1.00 
Putting in, - - - - 
Harvesting, - 
1.00 
1.25 
Threshing, 
1.75 
Twenty miles to market, - 
2.00 
$9.00 
Your inquiry, however, was as to the expense of 
production, which would be seven dollars per acre, 
or twenty cents per bushel, an average crop being 
thirty-five bushels per acre. There is no rule for 
estimating the interest on the capital employed, the 
prices of land are so varying being from $1.25, 
the government price, to 30 or $40 per acre in the 
hack counties. But you may add every possible 
contingency of expense, and the price of producing 
a bushel of wheat cannot exceed 25 cents, the sum 
you have suggested. 
I will add here the result of an actual experi¬ 
ment. A gentleman purchased an eighty-acre lot 
at $15 per acre, and kept an accurate account of 
the expenses attending the first crop, including the 
cost of the land. 
For eighty acres of land, $15 per acre, $1,200 
Fencing per acre, $2, - - - 160 
Plowing, - - - - - - 160 
Seed, - - - - 80 
Putting in, - - - - - 100 
Harvesting, - - - - 100 
Threshing, - - - - - 140 
$1,940 
The crop averaged thirty-five bushels per acre, 
and was sold at seventy cents per bushel. The 
expense of transportation to market was one hun¬ 
dred and forty dollars. 
Cost of land $15, as above. - - $1,940 
Transportation, - - - - 140 
2,080 
Eighty acres, 35 bushels per acre, 1,960 
Another eight hundred acres were purchased at 
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, with the 
following results — 
Eight hundred acres, 
- $1,000 
Fencing, 
1,600 
Plowing, 
1,600 
Seed, 
800 
Putting in, 
Harvesting, 
1,000 
1,000 
Threshing, 
- ' - - 1,400 
Transportation, 
1,000 
$9,400 
Eight hundred acres. 35 bushels per acre, 28,000 
bushels, 70 cents per bushel, $19,600. 
A variety of results of this kind could he given, 
but this is deemed sufficient to answer the purposes 
of inquiry. There may be some errors in the fig¬ 
ures, which I have not time to look over, but the 
basis on the calculation may be relied upon. 
SLAKING LIME FOR^AGRICULTURAL PUR¬ 
POSES. 
Lime, obtained from marble, or limestone, or 
from marine or fresh-water shells, by depriving 
it of its carbonic acid by burning, is known by 
the several names of burned lime , quicklime , cans 
tic lime , and lime shells. As a general rule, a ton 
of good limestone will yield half a ton of lime 
shells- but the weight of the latter, per bushel, 
varies with the kind of limestone used, and with 
the manner in which it is burned. In some cases, a 
bushel does not weigh more than 75 lbs., while in 
others, it will exceed 100lbs., which shows how 
uncertain the quantity applied to land may be when 
it is estimated by the measure. Hence lime should 
be bought and applied to the land by weight. 
In slaking, burned lime has a strong tendency 
to “drink in” and combine with water. Thus, 
when taken from the kiln and exposed to the air, it 
absorbs moisture and carbonic acid from the atmos¬ 
phere, increases in weight swells out, and gradu¬ 
ally falls to powder. Or, if water be thrown upon 
the burnt stone, or shells, it “drinks it in,” becomes 
hot, swells very much, and falls down in a short 
time to a bulky, more or less white, and almost 
impalpable powder. When the “ thirsty lime ” 
has thus fallen, it is said to be “ slaked ” or 
quenched, and is known under the name of “ hy¬ 
drate of lime.” If more water now be added, it is 
not “ drunk in,” but forms with the lime a mortar, 
or paste. 
When burnt limestone, or shells, is laid up in 
heaps in the air and is allowed to draw moisture 
and carbonic acid from the atmosphere, it falls to a 
powder of itself, and is said to be “ slacked,” or 
“ air-slacked.” In both of the states described 
above, the lime is hot, or caustic, and may be prop¬ 
erly spoken of as caustic lime. If spontaneously 
slaked, that is, if it be in a state in which one half 
of the lime is combined with water, and the other 
half with carbonic acid, it may be said to be only 
half caustic. 
When lime, whether it exists in a state of a hy¬ 
drate obtained by slaking, or is in a caustic or half 
caustic state, is long exposed to the open air, it 
gradually absorbs carbonic acid from the atmo¬ 
sphere, and is more or less perfectly converted into 
a carbonate, or in that condition in which it exist¬ 
ed before burning. In this state, it possesses no 
caustic nor alkaline properties, but is properly 
called mild lime. 
In slaking lime for agricultural purposes, it is 
acceded, as a general rule, that the mode, which 
gives it the greatest bulk, and at the same time 
reduces it to the most minute state of division, 
is the best. This may be effected by laying up 
the burnt limestone, or shells, into heaps in the 
air, and allowing them to draw moisture and car¬ 
bonic acid from the atmosphere, where the)’ will 
' fall to powder of themselves. In practice, it is pre- 
