Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-02-07
GNortester 1allp Spp.

STACKING LIME.-We clip the following
from the Wisconsin Farmer. The subject ap.
pears to be of too much importance. to be I'M
noticed. We commend the article to the con-
sideration of builders:
The common way Of using mortar a few
hours after the lime has been Stacked am
convinced is both injurious and wasteful. 1t
may be expeditions, when there is great hurry
or resorted to as necessty-but it is neither
scientific, nor to the best good of all concerned.
have often heard it insisted that external
plastering of brick, or stone buildings, cannot
be made to stand in this country, ascribfng as
reason, the frequent changes of the climate
or the dryness of the atmosphere, when the
true cause will be found simply in the imper-
feet Stacking of the lime. 1t is Just the very
nature and merit of the common lime to with
stand every and all changes of climate and at
mosphere--if it does not, the fault is sure to
lie somewhere else. Lime ought never to be
used for building purposes without having been
Stacked at least eight days previous; it ought
to have lain covered with water for at least that
tlme-in fact the longer the better, for if kept
covered from the influence of the sun, it will
continually improve and keep good and soft
for thousand years.
| once had occasion to examine some slack
ed lime that was more than five hundred years
old, having been discovered in some cave in
the Southern part of France, and it retained
all the true qualities Of the best lime, being as
smooth as butter, without a particle of grit,
and, when left exposed to the air or sun, be-
coming hard and solid. 1t is at first, when all
the fine globules of the lime have been fully
saturated with water and burst open, that lime
becomes actually fit for use in all its different
purposes. This cannot possibly take place in
twelve or twenty-tour hours, and if all the fine
PARTICLES have not become Stacked they will af-
forwards airslack themselves in the walls or
in the ceilings, continually absorbing moisture
by capillary influence and slowly crumble
away; while it is undoubtedly by this same
capillary action that the virtues of good mortar
namely, to become tough and impervious
cement, and to continue to grow harder, in
fact to become stone again-are brought out.
And here may be found the true and sole cause
for good many failures in the building line,
such as ceilings breaking away from the lath,
whole walls caving in, &c.-a fact obvious to
every true observer of to-day's buildings.
To slack lime well, then, have it run off in
large watts or deep holes in the ground, which
may be lined with slabs or pieces of board to
keep it clean and from direct contact with the
earth; let the sides slant little, to keep the
boards in their places. The common box and
preparations for Stacking will do, but fresh
lime ought never to be put in the box for slack
ing without first containing all the water neces-
sary for making the whole into thin paste
when it commences to heat and SWELL CON
slant stirring is necessary to prevent all over
heating, which shows itself in continual
swapping and cracking. This is a main point,
and it needs careful man to attend to it. If
there proves to be too little water, it may be
added, but care should be taken to have an
even temperature. Have the box washed out
well after each operation, scraping up and re-
moving all rocks and dirt, but let all these
washings go in with the rest-lose nothing,
waste nothing. If hole, say by feet and
feet deep, has been run full, there will prob
ably stand or feet Of water on the top of
the main mass, which, at first, will settle pref
ty clear; but soon all will be absorbed, the
mass will grow from below, until, in few days,
it is becoming firm, when it may be covered
with clean sand and layer of earth to keep
off the sun. If the process has been success
full, the lime will now feel perfectly smooth be-
tween the fingers, without any grit
Whenever this lime must be used, remove
carefully the earth, but do not uncover larger
space than is necessary for taking it out, and
go clear to the bottom, before more is uncov-
cred.
There now is the building lime for all pur-
poses, ready to be mixed up with water and
sand for immediate use, and one would be as
tonished at the prodigious quantity it takes of
each; there seems to be no end to its album
dance and richness.
Men in the building line have generally a
number of these watts or holes prepared, so as to
have Stacked lime always on hand, well know
ing that age improves both its quantity and
quality. In experiments l have made, find
that 1t will go as far again.
When it is considered that in Europe all
brick buildings are plastered outside, and that
the heaviest cornices are run with no other ma
terial than this kind of mortar, one will readily
be convinced as to the superiority Of this mode
of stacking lime, which at present is only used
and impertectly, by plasterers for the last or
the putty" coat