Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1858-10-15
Should Ashes be Mixed with Superphos.
phate oil Limel

Should Ashes be Mixed with Superpn0s'
phate OF Limel
In the Country Gentleman OF Feb. Z, we
stated that uni,achcd rood a,l,' should not
be mixed with supcrphosphate Of lime. \
correspondent Of the Maine Farmer cites a
process for manufacturing superpho'phats
Of lime given by Mr.. Alexander j. Main, in
the Transactions Of the Highland and Agri'
cultural society Of Scotland, in which be
recommends house ashes " for mixing
with the snperpho.phat Of lime; and as
,hi. /. in his opinion diame,rieally opposed
to our statement. he asks, Who j.
right?"
our inQurins friend nigh, have cited
even higher authority for the U.s. Of ashes
with superphosphate than Mr.. Main. The
lamcnted Prof John T.. Norton, Prof I'm.
mons, and many other American writers
recommend farmers manufacturing super
phosphate Of lime from bones, 10 dry the
mixture by the addition Of ashes.
I These writer. evidently recommended the
practice Of British farmer. without due con-
,idcration. IL Is true that in England
q" house ashs, " are miSci with homemade
.urcrpho.pha,c OF lime in order to render it
dry enough to be sovn with the drill-ani
the practice b. good one. Bot "hou.c
ashc-" are a very diT-rcn; article from the
q" unlcachcl wood ashes " referred 10 hy u'.
The e" house ashes" Of the Eng N are coal
ashes, aud have no injurious action when
mixed with euano, surcrpho'pha,c. &c.
unlrachcd wood ashes have . strong aka.
line reaction, and will, o., wc before stated,
mos, uuquc,tiOnahly "set tree the ammonia
from it, acid combinations, iu thee aud
all other manurgs. Any one can readily
satisfy himself on ,hi. point by mixing a
little Peruvian cuano with unlsachcd wood
ashes aud aidiu: lli,lc water. H. will
-,on produce q strong .nell OF ammonia
(barishoru) aud thi, simple experiment will
do morc to convince him OF the truth Of our
assertion than the most elaborate argument.
We hope the correspondent OF the Maine
Farmer will satisfy himself on tai. point.
That "unlcachel wool ashes" when
mixed with ,upcrPhosphate OF lime has an
inuriou. yacc, caun5t ior one moment be-
doubted by any one having any knowledge
of chemical action. Tho ohirci OF mixing
sulphuric acid with bonc-, or as It i erro.
neously called "i,..,lyius' bones with ,ul.
phuric acid, i. TO convert tho insOlublc
phosphate Of lime as !, exists in bones in,o
the soluble superphosphatc OF line. The
sulphuric acid accomplishcs this by taking
awaya portion OF the lime, leaving an cE-
ccs. Of phosphoric acid. superpho,phnir OF
lime i, phosphate Of limo and pho'phorie
acid. The former alone Is nsoluble, but
the two combined are quite soluble and
readily available for the u.s. Of l'an''. Now
then, suppose we adj " unlcach,i wood
ashe. to a mixture of phosphate Of lime
and phosPhoric acid-in other words to SUI
perphosphato Of limc-what is The eject
. The potash aud soda OF the ashes unite with
the excess or pho.phoric asii, and leave the
phosphate OF lime 10 IL. in.olubl' condition.
And thus We undo wha, has been done at
considerable expense. II We add lime the
same effect i, produced with this difference
that the whole Of the rho.lhorlc acid in the
mixture combines with limc-ihc original
iusolublc phosphate Of lime being formed.
81 that lime is even worse than ualyaehcd
wood ashes. bat neither should ever De
miIcI with ,upcrphospha,e Of lime.
With commercial surerpho'Pha,c Of lime'
or with supcrphosphaie Of lime made from
animal charcoal, burnt bones, SC. there is
no necessity for mixing anything at all.
Drill it in with the seed just us it is. Su.
perphosphate ol lime made from fresh bones,
Is, necessarily, ~ moi't that some absorb
cut material must be mixed with i, before it
can bc sOwn with drill aud il is for this
reason that British farmers mix coal ashes
with it. Any dry material, that has not
an alkaline reaction, sush Us charcoal dust,
dried peat, burnt clay, &c, may bO used.
Burnt clay is, perhaps, more extensively
used in many parts OF England for this pur.
pose than any other substance. j. II.
Country Gentleman.