Lime whitewashing

Growing up in my native Romania, I remember people whitewashing the trunks of tress in the Spring with a lime solution. I looked for mason's lime at Home Depot or Lowe's but they don't have it, and in general it seems hard to find. The price is low, between $6-9 for a bag of 50 pounds (you can make a lot of whitewash with 50 pounds), but delivery is expensive. This practice has some advantages, it protects the bark of the tree from sun scalding, from insects, and I would imagine, from rabbits and deer. It is also used for sheds and barns. Why are people not doing this anymore? Why aren't manufacturers of lime promoting this use for their product?

Cristian

For buildings paint is cheaper because it is more durable. Guessing the same thing is true of tree paints.

One other use for lime. My mother used to talk about growing up and have roller skates with keys for her shoes. Being rural the only smooth surface she had to use them was the milking barn floor. They used to lime those floors to sterilize them between uses. My mother said it used to really irritate the hired men if she got on the lime with the skates because it caused the lime to stick to the floor and not sweep up.