The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-07-03
Wood Ashes.

tell me what per cent. or potash - 'oh
tanned ir wood ashes made from OAK, chest-
nut. and hickory wood. | see that lerli,i-
ger companies advertise potash sailS loI sale
and recommend sowing about loo pouhoS
of notash TO the acre at a cost OF from tour
n five dollars What | wish to know Is
how manv bushels of ashes will II requlfS
to furnish 100 pounds of potash . nave
heen exnerimcnting some with ashes Tor
two or three wears, using at the rate OF
about forty bushels per acre. ana on my son
which : a rravelly or slate loan. they pro
duce surprising results on lana tnat Is seed,
ed with clover. In the fall OF 49,! so"e''
a strip across a wheat stuDble when was
seeded with clover and timothy, but the
clover. for some cause. had not taken on
either side for a few rods from the FENCES
while the middle of the field was wei s3eu-
| ed with both clover and timothy. Al nay
inc time last season | could note the instant
| the machine struck that strip on the part OF
| the field which contained the clover, there
being at least double the crop of hay. While
or the field which contained only timothy |
could see no difference. Last fall | sowed
a barrel of ashes on several different strips
of the Young seeding which was mostly
clover. marking the boundaries with stakes,
| and at the present time of writing, June 'th,
| the stakes are not needed Present appear
| ances Indicate that the ashes will again
| double the clover the only trouble being
that it will grow too large on the strips
| treated with ashes for it is lodging badly
| already. | can buy ashes here tor about
twenty cents per bushel, and what wish
to learn is which is cheaper-the ashes or
the potash salts ? ] suppose that potash IS
the only valuable element OF plant 1000 III
the ashes. OSCAR w. MAPEs.
The ashes OF different kinds of wood
differ in per centage of potash. AS a gene
raj rule wood ashes may be estimated as
having ten per cent. of potash. Professor
Johnson says 900 pounds Of the ash OF
bean straw have been found to contain 50
pounds of potash"
Boussingault speaking of the composition
OF ashes says
They contain, besides silica both phos-
| phate and carbonate of lime and alkaline
sulphates, phosphatss, and carbonates. In
a general way, every thing derived from
plants that have lived must be useful to
plants that are about to live, or that are
actually living. Although the utility of
wood ashes, then, is generally admitted,
the numerous purposes to which they are
applied in the arts, and their high price,
which is the consequence Of this, enable
the husDandman to employ them but rarely
on his land they are almost always liXivla-
ted in order to procure the carbonate OF
potash they contain.
Messrs. C~hynoweth and Buckner in the
work on "American manure !" give ashes
a very prominent place as fertiIizing agents.
According to a table prepared by them,
the ashes Of various kinds Of wood yield
in crude potasi. as follows: Ashes of
birch Is. l lbs. oak 10 lbs. walnut 1863
lbs. poplar IA lbs. This does Mt agree
with popular estimates, by which ashes of
beech wood are placed lowest in the list.
Where wood ashes can be procured at
small cost, they constitute a very desirable
dressing for grass land, but it is doubtful
If they can return satisfactory profit when
more than twenty cents a Dushel must be
paid for them. When the potash they con
tain costs no more than in the extracted
state it is cheaper and better to use the
ashes, for they have other valuable %fertili-
zing matter; chiefly ~phosphoric acid.
Good wood ashes at any thing less than
twenty cents a bushei, would probably be
better than crude potash at four dollars per
hnndred pounds. The question however is
one to be determined only by practical test
of the kind that Mr.. Mapes reports, for on
some soils no good results are seen from
liberal applications of potash in any form.