in a stone cistern. The lime used should be of
good quality, free from stones, badly burnt pieces or any other
insoluble material, so that when slaked it should give a fine smooth
pasty mass.

Lime should not be slaked too long before using, as it absorbs carbonic
acid from the atmosphere, whereby carbonate of lime is formed, and this
is useless for liming cloth. The pasty slaked lime may be mixed with
water to form the milk of lime, and this can be run from the cistern in
which it is prepared into the liming machine as it is required; the
supply pipe should be run into the bottom of the trough of the liming
machine and not over the top, in which latter case it may splash on to
the cloths and lead to overliming, which is not to be desired on account
of its liability to rot the cloth. The amount of lime used varies in
different bleachworks, and there is no rule on the subject; about 5 lb.
to 7 lb. of dry lime to 100 lb. of cloth may be taken as a fair quantity
to use.

The lime boil has for its object the removal or rather the
saponification of the resinous and fatty matters present in the grey
cloth, either naturally or which have been added in the process of
weaving, or have got upon the cloth accidentally during the processes of
spinning and weaving. With these bodies the lime forms insoluble lime
soaps; these remain in the cloth, but in a form easily decomposable and
removable by treatment with acids and washing. Soda or potash is not
nearly so good for this first boiling as lime--for what reason is
somewhat uncertain, but probably because they form with the grease in
the cloths soluble soaps, which might float about the kier and
accumulate in places where they are not required and thus lead to
stains, whereas the insoluble lime soap remains where it was formed. The
lime also seems to attack the natural colouring matter of the cotton,
and although the colour of the limed cloth is darker than before
boiling, yet the nature of the colour is so altered that it is more
easily removed in the after processes. Besides these changes the
starchy matters put into the cloth in the sizing are dissolved away.
Great care should be taken to see that the goods are evenly laid in the
kiers, not too tight, or the liquor will not penetrate properly; and not
too slack, or they will float about and get entangled and more or less
damaged. Then again care should be taken, especially when using
low-pressure kiers, to see that the supply o