The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1874-07-10

In considering the growth oforganisms
the action of the alkalies Is TO be looked
upon "a scarcely less important than that
OF air and water. Lime Is the great animal
alkali, and potash the vegetable one; IL
old name Of vegetable kali expressed that
fact. and all the potash of commerce Is
well known TO be derived from wood
ashes. The Importance of potash as a ma
nure has been frequently overlooked by
farmers, who rarely know the large
amount OF this material found In grass,
grain crops. leaves, barn yard manure,
roots, and fruits. How potash acts ia
plants, in conjunction with carbon and 81
lex, To form woody fiber, starch, sugar,
and oil, Is yet unknown TO chemical OBJ
servers. but the fact of its action Is beyond
A doubt. Liebig long since pointed out
that the chief cause of ba%rrenncss IL the
waste of potash carried off by rich crops,
especially tobacco, with no replacement
By proper manure. How many millions
of pounds OF potash have been sent to
Europe from the forests of America, and
in the grain. tobacco and hemp. Luckily
one aIkali may be replaced by another. and
we have received a considerable quantity
ofsoda from European sea-wced and In
the shape OF salt. Latterly. nitrate of soda
from natural deposits in South America Is
brought 10 us AT a cheap price.
The point To which We now call atten-
ton j. tllat our farmers and fruit-growers
have ignored. or rather been ignorant of.
the importance of wood ashes a a vegcta-
BILE stimulant and a. the leading constitp-
ent of plants. Even coal ashes. now
thrown away as useless, have been shown.
both by experiment and analysis, To pos
sess "A fair share of alkaline value. Ac-
cosdlng 10 our observation, il the practice
of putting a mixture of wood and Goa
ashes around the stems of fruit trees and
vines. particularly early i'm the spring.
were followed rs a general rule, our crops
of apples, grapes, peaches, etc, would be
greatly benefited in both quality and guam
tity, and the trees and vines would last
longer. We will relate only one expert
ment. Some twenty-five years ago, we
treated an old hollow pippin apple tree as
follows: The hollow. TO the height of
eight feet. was filled and rammed with "A
compost of wood ashes, garden mold, and
a little waste lime (carbonate). This fill
ing was securely fastened in by boards.
The next year the crop Of sound fruit was
sixteen bushels from AN old shell of a tree
that had borne nothing of any account for
some time. But the strangest part was
what followed. For seventeen years after
the filling. that old pippin tree continued
10 flourish and bear well.
Let Va call attention to still another
point Of Importance In fruit raising. This
is the bearing year for apples and fruit in
general in New England probably it Is
also in some other parts. Now when such
years come, the farmers rejoice too much
at their prosperity and abuse IL. as nearly
all people do the gifts of fortune. We
should be temperate as to the quantity of
our fruit as well as OF our fruit juices.
BY proper trimming and plucking, the
apple crop in bearing year may be reduc-
ed 10 but little more than half a crop as TO
number. but the Improvement in size and
price, and in the future effect, will more
than balance the loss. Next February,
March, or April. according To latitude, let
the tree-trimmer stimulate and nourish his
trees and vines with "A fair supply of ash
g, and in nearly every case he will have a
good crop Of fruit I'm the ~non-bearing
year.-ScteEtifc American.