The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-11-01

The Boston Journal of Chemistry
gives the following, which will answer !
several questions asked by correspond |
ents of the Rural NeW Yorker:-Inqui- |
ries are frequently made regarding the |
comparative value of leached and I'M
leached ashes; and in order to answer |
them, let us consider the nature, or
chemical constituents of the two heaps
as we find them at the soap-boiler's. In
one bin ere the dry, fresh wood ashes;
in another, the wet, lixivited mass, as
thrown from the leach tubs. If the
former are like the ashes produced in
our own dwelling, by burning in the
open fireplace, oak, pine, hickory,
birch, and maple woods, bushel will
weigh about fifty pounds, six and three
fourth pounds of which ere soluble in
warm water. OF the soluble eonstitu-
ents, there is little more than four and
one-haif pounds of potash and soda,
the remainder being the sulphuric, mu-
ratio, and carbonic acids with which
the alkalies are combined Forty-three
pounds are ipsotubio in water, and con-
sist of
arbonate of lime lbs
Phosphate of lbs,
Carbonate of lbs
Silicaie of lims-.-................ 8 lbs
oxides OF iron and maenese-.-....-.----..l lib,
'It is the work of the soap>boiler to
remove from ashes what is soluble in
water, which is accomplished in ..,,ie leach
tub, and this is all the change they un-
dergo i'll his establishment. The ashes
go liz dry, holding the soluble and in
solnble substances; they come out wet,
deprived OF six and three-fourth pounds
OF potash and soda. 1t should be stated,
! however, that about one pound of
quick-lime is added to each bushel of
ashes in the leach, to render the I've
caustic. This adds one pound more of
lime to the insoluble residium, or the
/ leached ashes, making il weigh, if it
was free from water: forty -four pounds.
In teaching, the ashes do not change
much i'll bulk, bpt they are largely in
creased in weight from the contained
water.
Now, what is the commercial value of
/ the ashes before and after they pass
through the soap-makers hands? In
/ the dry state the
--rE-rF.t sr Cents.
! -Four and one half pounds Of potash and soda
are worth cents apUund.-....-...-.....-.....221
Other soluble constituents...-- ............-.. 3
Thiriy-two pounds carbonate Of line. 3
Three pounds phosphate Of lime
Three pounds siIicate.-.......... :. ..... 0
Iron ard manganese.- .... ...-... U
50
This estimate. which is fair one,
gives value per bushel of thirty>nine
cents; that is. the substances found in
bnshel Of good sound wood ashes are
/ worth III the market, that sum, at the
/ present time. By teaching the ashes,
thirty cents of the commercial value is
removed and converted into soap; this
leaves nine cents as the value of the
/ constituents of a bushel Of leached
ashes. The silicate of lime, and the
metals, practically, have no market val
| ue and are not considered.
What is the agricultural value of the
/ two forms of fertilizers? The ashes
holding all their normal constituents,
are worth more applied to soils than for
other uses when separated, dollars and
cents being considered. A bushel, ju-
diciously employed, will return, in most
! seasons, sixty or seventy cents worth
of product the first year. The potash
ami soda, combined as they are in ashes,
In the form of carbonates, sulphates,
and silicates. are in precisely the right
condition to be readily assimilated, and
also TO aid in rendering assimilable,
many important constituents of the soil.
/ The leached ashes also are worth
more than nine cents bushel Rela-
/ lively they are worth mere for soil en-
ployment than the unleached, regard
being had to the commercial value of
the substances when separated. Agood
honest bushel OF moist. leached ashes
will give returns the first year of the
value of fifteen or twenty cents; and
owing to the peculiar decomposing in
/ fiuence upon the insoluble constituents
of the siilcates, etc, remaining In the
mass, their influence extends outside of
themselves, and continues for a long
time. A pound of phosphate of lime
! found in ashes is worth more than a
pound Of bone dust, as it is in q condi-
ton to be readily taken mp by plants.
/ The carbonate of lime is worth more
than chalk or the same agent in other
/ forms, inasmuch as it has once passed
through plant structures. CO
The estimates here presented ere only
rough ones, but they are sufficiently ex-
act to serve as guide in learning the
value of leached and unleached wood
ashes. We have experimental consid-
erably with ashes in both forms, npon
soils of various kinds, and what we have
stated is the result of our own practical
experience.