Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-07-16

found by trial that leached ashes pro.
duced even better average results than
ashes that were fresh and unleached. OF
course there must be loss of potash and
some other soluble elements in the former
case, and result apparently so contra
dictory to the popular idea deserves cx.
animation and If possible an explanation.
We have given this matter some thought,
and broach theory which will at least set
our readers TO thinking, and may develop
ideas still nearer the exact truth.
While potash is always valuable, and
particularly so for some plants, the potash
in newly-burned ashes is not in best con.
dition to be available as plant food. Il is
just the thing for the soap-maker in its
caustic state as 1t will then eat the grease
and make good soap. But for growing
plants this caustic potash is not imme-
diately available--its allSalf needs 10 be
neutralized, leaving its mineral element
in the form of sulphate or nitrate of
potash. 1t requires no act of man to
make this change. Nature and the ele-
ments will do it in very little time. Ashes
kept in any confined place where current
of air is not constantly blowing over them
rapidly absorb moisture, and with that
they have the faculty of uniting with the
nitrogen of the atmosphere, forming from
their potash nitrate of potash or crude
saltpeter, one of the most valuable of all
mineral manures and freely soluble. But
this nitrate of potash is unfit for soap
making. Housewives have learned this,
for they all know that they cannot make
soap by teaching old ashes that have be-
come damp from long exposure to the air.
WhyY They say the ashes have lost their
strength; but there has been no leaching,
so the mineral elements must still be pres
ent. Nolhing has gone from the ashes.
1t is only the nitric acid of the damp at
mosphere which has neutralized the al
kali of the potash and formed n nitrate.
No housewife would think of making
soap from saltpeter, yet this is what is at
tempted unless the ashes are fresh.
These old ashes, damp from long alb
sorption of moisture from the air, are Just
what the farmer wants for his crops. They
have lost most of their caustic properties
their strength for soap-but they are
just what is needed for manure. They
give the plant both nitrogen and potash,
each in its most available form, and cause
growing plants to shoot up with astOnish-
ing vigor They are especially valuable
for potatoes, corn and tobacco. So inn
portant do We regard it that the alkali
SuOulu Dt HGub dllLtu lOT lunlnCuldl6 Dc0-
eft to crops that we would have house
built of stone and, if possible, partly un-
der ground for storing ashes. Here the
change to nitrate of potash would 90 for
ward rapidly, and once a year when
cleaned out would furnish a considerable
quantity of valuable manure. The same
building could-be used as a smoke-house,
and being of stone would not be liable to
be burned. Under some circumstances,
not well understood, moist ashes are liza
bic to spontaneous combustion, and would
be dangerous if left in contact with wood
1t is not doubted that fresh ashes will
be good manure. This change to nitrate
can and does take place in the soil as well
as elsewhere. 1t is quite probable that it
does occur soon after the ashes arc washed
down into the soil, and only after the ashes
are washed down into the soil can they do
any good. But the question arises, Does
not the nitrogen in the soil uniting with
potash detract so much from the soils fer
tility, while if the combination was made
above ground it would be so much addi.
ton thereto? This subject involves many
interesting questions well worthy the at
tention of thoughtful farmers and scien-
tific men-RurdL Neso Yorker.