Restoring a field stone basement.

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I seem to have become a new-to-me home owner. It is a 1 and 3/4 storey home built in 1890 with a field stone basement. The most significant feature for me was the complete lack of "old building" odor. I have been in a number of buildings that have that musty, mildewy smell that seems to become part of the walls, and is especially bad in the basements. And even in the basement, this house does not have any musty odor at all. What is does have is a lot of missing mortar as a good portion of it has crumbled to sand over the years. I have been doing some internet research on mortar and it is possible that lye based mortar is what was on this basement. It seems lye based mortar is water soluble and, as a result, it reseals to the stones after any ground shifting. This sounds like a good thing as then there would be little need to reseal cracking mortar. Has anyone done any stone basement or stone wall restorations? Any suggestions? Helpful hints?