Adding lime to the garden raises the pH. Most soil tends to be acid and most vegetables like a soil that has a PH level close to neutral (7.0). Burn or pulverized lime is more dissolvable by the soil than crushed lime. I believe that burnt lime has been used as cement since Roman times. We need the chemist folks to help , there may be a temperature factor for whether the lime is to be used just for agriculture or cement. John -----Original Message----- From: Edgar A. Howard - Sysop <ehowrd77@m9.sprynet.com> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, December 19, 1998 12:26 Subject: The use of Lime in farming >Friends, > > Consider the following. It is not strictly genealogy but relates to >primative farming. The question as to why ancestors moved so much >has been raised. The 'fatigue' of the soil is an important point. > >ALEX STEWART Portrait of a Pioneer >By John Rice Irwin >Pg. 117 > > "You need good hard wood to burn lime, hickory >or oak. You've also got to get the right kind of >rock to make lime. You want a certain kind of >limestone. Not too hard. They's a kind of >limestone that's mixed up with flint and it won't >burn into lime. We call it bastard rock. > > "You take the right kind of limestone and bust >it up into five or ten pound rocks and put them >in your kiln and get your fire right hot. It >takes two men to fire a kiln and it'll take 24 >hours to make a run. You have to have the fire >awfully, terribly, hot and you can smell the rock >when it starts burning. Them rocks will go into >ashes, just like wood ashes in your fireplace, >except they're whiter. > "When you was up on the ridge tuther day, to >get my old log house, you passed an old lime kiln >where they burned a man up. His name was Creech. >Some fellers got into a disagreement with him and >they killed him and burned him in the kiln. Uncle >Pert Coins, that was Grandpap's uncle, said that >place was hainted (haunted) and him and Grandpap >wouldn't come by there of a night because the >haints had got after them. They'd go ten miles >out of their way before they'd go by that old >lime kiln." What uses did you have for lime, >other than tanning leather? > "Oh, the biggest thing we used it for was on >the crops. Hit's a heap better than fertilizer, >and it'll last for at least six or seven years. >They's nothing that will make a pasture grow like >burnt lime. You get a heap better results than >from this here crushed lime. When you're putting >it on your row crops, don't put it to close. It's >high-powered stuff and it'll kill your corn and >stuff if you put it too close. But talk about >growing; buddy you put a little of that burnt >lime on your garden and just set back and watch >it come from there." Any other uses for lime! > "We used it to make cement, and we used it >around toilets in later years. People kept a >little bag of lime in their privies, and every >once in a while they'd throw a handful down in >the pit. That would keep the odor down, and it'd >keep the flies away. You can put a pound or two >of lime in your vat when you're heating water to >scald hogs, and that will help make the hair come. > "I've used lime to whitewash fruit trees. Take >your lime and mix it with water and paint your >apple trees and peach trees up about two or three >feet high. That keeps the rabbits, goats, and >everything else from eating the outside bark and >killing the tree.” > > I recall using lime for the garden and field and in the privies. > > Would some knowledgable person please explain >what the lime did for the soil and what the >chemical process was that occurred during the >"burning of the limestone." > >-eddie > > > >==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >#7 "Roll Calls" or such by other names are to be called >by the SYSOP ONLY. NO WARNINGS!! Each member is free to post their >SURNAMES anytime they please. >