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Mules hitched to a lime wagon, Berks County, PA, circa 1890.
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Six mules are hitched to the Lime Wagon. A farmer sits atop the rear left mule's back and another stands to the side of the wagon.

Credit: Courtesy of Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center, Pennsburg, Pennsylvania

Farmers used lime for fertilizer, mortar, plaster, whitewash, and a privy disinfectant. Often hauled from great distances, limestone was converted to lime by burning it in limekilns, the ruins of which still dot the Pennsylvania countryside.

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