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3but plaster readily adheres to and dries on walls built with new pit sand, and vaulting may safely spring from them. If sand have been dug a long time, and exposed to the sun, the moon, and the rain, it loses its binding quality, and becomes earthy; neither when used does it bind the rubble stones together so as to prevent them sliding on their beds and falling out: nor is it fit to be used in walls where great weights are to be supported. Though pit sand is excellent for mortar, it is unfit for plastering; for being of a rich quality, when added to the lime and straw, its great strength does not suffer it to dry without cracks. The poorness of the river sand, when tempered with beaters, makes the plastering as hard as cement.
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