296
WONG TAK YAN
(3) Superior lime (E), the finest and smoothest sort used in the curing of leather.
Many farmers used lime as dressing on their land to kill insect pests. Furthermore, reservoirs and sugar works bought lime for various uses necessary to those trades. Thus it can be said that lime was used in a wide variety of ways.
Raw materials used in the making of lime
To make the Superior or Fine grades of lime it was usual to use oyster shells, clam shells, or coral heads (coral heads are a sort of coral which grows in the shape of large or small balls) as the raw material. For Coarse grades the dredgings of shellfish beds were used (workers would go out in small boats to shallow waters near the factory and dredge up broken shells. These would normally come to the surface mixed with between one-tenth and one-fifth by quantity of fine sand). Another method of making Coarse lime was to take Fine lime and mix it with the right quantity of sharp sand. Oyster shells were bought from the Lau Fan Shan oyster beds. Coral heads grew in the sea off Sai Kung. Clam shells were not so commonly used.
At the time when the Government developed Victoria Park they used a French company to dredge up from the seabed the mud used for the reclamation, and the place they used for the dredging point was precisely an area of shellfish beds. As a result a huge quantity of shells came out of the dredging pipe mixed up with the sand and mud. The name of these shells is unknown. The shape of the shells was like a slightly twisted cupped hand. These shells were excellent for lime making. The local boat people competed among themselves to heap up these shells in their boats, and all the lime kiln operators sent boats backwards and forwards to buy them. At that time no-one could say there was a shortage of raw material! 3 There were many different types of shell, some were absolutely beautiful, so that they could be kept and used as decorations: unfortunately no pearls were found for the admiration of us today.
296
WONG TAK YAN
(3) Superior lime (E), the finest and smoothest sort
used in the curing of leather.
Many farmers used lime as dressing on their land to kill insect pests. Furthermore, reservoirs and sugar works bought lime for various uses necessary to those trades. Thus it can be said that lime was used in a wide variety of ways.
Raw materials used in the making of lime
To make the Superior or Fine grades of lime it was usual to use oyster shells, clam shells, or coral heads (coral heads are a sort of coral which grows in the shape of large of small balls) as the raw material. For Coarse grades the dredgings of shellfish beds were used (workers would go out in small boats to shallow waters near the factory and dredge up broken shells. These would normally come to the surface mixed with between one-tenth and one-fifth by quantity of fine sand). Another method of making Coarse lime was to take Fine lime and mix it with the right quantity of sharp sand. Oyster shells were bought from the Lau Fan Shan oyster beds. Coral heads grew in the sea off Sai Kung. Clam shells were not so commonly used.
At the time when the Government developed Victoria Park they used a French company to dredge up from the seabed the mud used for the reclamation, and the place they used for the dredging point was precisely an area of shellfish beds. As a result a huge quantity of shells came out of the dredging pipe mixed up with the sand and mud. The name of these shells is unknown. The shape of the shells was like a slightly twisted cupped hand. These shells were excellent for lime making. The local boat people com- peted among themselves to heap up these shells in their boats, and all the lime kiln operators sent boats backwards and forwards to buy them. At that time no-one could say there was a shortage of raw material!3 There were many different types of shell, some were absolutely beautiful, so that they could be kept and used as decora- tions: unfortunately no pearls were found for the admiration of us today.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.