As is quite common here, the conversation seems to have got a fur piece
from Whitwash.

My memory of whitewash has to do with cow stables.  The "milk inspector"
came around periodically and if he couldn't find anything else to complain
about he'd tell the farmer he needed to whitewash his stable.  There was a
man who came around with a truck and a spray apparatus and sprayed
whitewash on walls and ceilings of cow stables.  Didn't do a darned thing
for sanitation but it looked clean.  Conversly, if the farmer thought it
was about time for the inspector to be coming around he'd have the barn
whitewashed.  This would make some inspectors mad as it didn't give them
anything to complain about and they'd make the farmer do it over.

BTW:  If I go to town and buy a bag of cement where would it have come from
and what's it made of?  I think I have gotten into this conversation before
as I remember going to a website for the Rosedale cement mine in NY state.
Someday I'd like to go see that, it must be really sumpin'.  If it isn't
lime what is that cement made of, granite?  Ruth




At 6:25 PM -0400 4/7/07, Edison Coatings wrote:
Brian,

We should not underestimate the knowledge of Geology that existed in the
19th Century. Gillmore's book, detailing work before the Civil War, records
his comments on mining operations from personal observations of all the
major cement producers. He also provides recommended procedures for
sampling and testing cement, taking random samples from various lots. I
don't know what year the Watertown Arsenal started testing cement, but at
some point there was testing performed and published annually.
-- 
Ruth Barton
[log in to unmask]
Dummerston, VT

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