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lacked experience and casks were difficult to procure. However, the vast quantity of limestone, the convenience of the wood for burning and of the harbor for shipment, inclined Mr. Simonds to prosecute the industry, and as early as August 18, 1764, we find him writing to Mr. Hazen in the following terms: "If the lime answers well we shall want 150 hogsheads; it will be well to get the cheapest sort such as are powder posted, often sold at half price, with hoops and boards for heads. . . . Next winter we can employ the oxen at sleding wood and stone, Mr. Middleton at making casks."

Mr. Simonds visited Halifax the same year, whence he wrote Mr. Blodget, "I have been with the King's mason; have shewn him a specimen of our lime; he likes it well and gives me encouragement that he will take all of me that he wants either for public or private use, (he is the only dealer in town) at a rate that will net at St. Johns three dollars or more pr. H'hd."

The following spring Mr. Simonds writes again: "If the lime answers well, can burn any quantity whatever. The want of hogsheads is the greatest difficulty, the want of a house to cover it the next, . . dispatch in shipping can never be made without a lime house to have it ready when any vessel arrives."

Soon after, a warehouse was built for storing and a wharf for shipping the lime, but the difficulty of procuring casks remained. There was a cooper shop at Portland Point, where the men employed by the company worked: "Middleton," says Mr. Simonds, "makes one hogshead per day, Abbot one in two days, Godsoe one in a day, so there cannot be many casks ready for lime." He complains of having hoop poles to cut and pick up all over the woods as being a great hindrance to other work. On one occasion he says,