The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-07-03
Wood and Coal Ashes.

much improved. Lord Bacon, nearl
three hundred years, enunciated this truth
'lf you want tree to produce more tina
its usual burden Of fruit, it is not anythin
you can do to the branches that will affec
this object, but the excitation of the cart
about its roots and increasing the fertilit
OF the SOIL" We. in our former practices
rejected this doctrine. and instead of feed
ing diseased trees, we have dosed them ant
undertaken to restore them to health BY do
ing something for the leaves and branches
Hence all the talk about rot, mildew, ant
fungus, and how to cure them, and hence
too, nearly complete failure in that regard
Moderate experience has wonderfully mod
fed modern notions OF disease, and thu
question now is when an old disease appear
in more violent form than usual, or wher
new one comes to the surface, not whethe
we can cure this disease, but whether W.
can preyentit. In vegetable and plant life
the question becomes almost wholly one OF
nutrition. OF course no plant can be ex-
pected to be vigorous and healthy out OF
surroundings or climate suited to it, and
when it is claimed an apple tree should
bear, if rightly fed, in the tropics as we'll as
in the temperate zone the claim is too alb
surG. Under ordinary circumstances, all
unhealthfulness and all unfruitfulness in
fruit trees is in very great degree simply a
question of nutrition, and it does not seem
to be very difficult matter torestore Very
sick tree to health. or to change barrenness
into fruitfulness. We have learned, but we
have learned it quite recently, how best to
feed COW SO that she will give good mess
of milk, and be kept in good, sound, healthy
condition at the same time; and the feeding
of hens so that they will lay eggs in the
coolest weather has become trick which
every housewife is master of. And this has
not been done by giving medicine, but by
feeding food, in the right quantity, at the
right time. We supply the food that gives
strength and sustains the vitality, and in
addition we give the elementary substances
out of which eggs and milk are made-that
is, both heterogeneous and carbonaceous mat
tiers, in conjunction with inorganic SUBJ
stances. Why should not these practices be
logically carried into the domain Of vegetable
physiology and result successfully9 All the
sour fruits make enormous demands for pot
ash in some form, and why potash should
not be furnished is worth considering. OF
vegetation, from ninety-fve to ninety-eight
per centum is furnished by the atmosphere
the remaining two to eight percentum comes
from the soil, and is found in the ash of the
plant. Half of this ash, in the case of sour
fruit, is potash, of which most soils are suf-
ficiently rich to furnish enough for the
growth OF one generation, and one genera
ton only. When, therefore, we try to grow
trees of the second generation, we fail, and
the failure appears under great variety of
forms-rot, blight, fungus, mlldew, insects
and we charge the failure to disturbed and
vicious atmospheric conditions, which are
thought to be the origin of blight, fungus
and rot, forgetting that, so far as we have
been able to ascertain, the substance of the
atmosphere has undergone no perceptible
change for centuries, and is not likely to
change for other centuries to come. Find.
ing, then, that the ninety-fye to ninety
eight per centum of the material for
vegetable growth has in no respect failed,
or is likely to at present, we are forced
to consider the.two to five per centum fur
nished by the soil, and here we get at the
secret of the whole business !; and we learn
we must feed substances rich in lime, pot
ash and phosphoric acid, and these are found
cheapest and most accessible in the form OF
wood and coal ashes, the abundant and con-
stanty increasing products of an advancing
civilization. But we must feed not only lib
orally but regularly, and at least annually, |
though some regard fertilizing once in three
years sufficient. There are several causes |
which have contributed to the non success
of the use of coal and wood ashes. which de- |
serve to be noted. First. they have not |
been used in sufficient quantities, quarts |
having been used where bushels were de- !
manded second, they have been banked !
up about the trunk, or they have been |
spread upon the surface and not forked in.
So far as quantity Is concerned, not less |
than fifty cubic feet of ashes is sufficient |
for an average twenty year old apple tree,
and other trees and vines should be dealt |
with in the same spirit Of liberality. As for |
the practice of banking coal ashes up about |
the trunk. trees feeding rootsare not there,
and though some benefit maybe derivedfrom
such a practice in course of time, bushel
evenly spread under the terminal branches
and forked, is worth more than ten around
the stem. In soils of the average orchard,
and especially the orchard that has been
tramped, over-fed and cropped, and gener-
ally neglected, the feeding roots of the trees
are not to be found near the surface, and
therefore when coal ashes are to be spread
to the extent Of even fifty cubic feet to the
tree, the feeding roots do not Immediately
get the benefit of them unless they are thor
oughly forked in. will give detailed &C
count of my experiments in this direction
and my success in future article.-[B.sF.
j., IN the Country Gentleman.l
PRINCES OF ZANZIBAR.-Ina Berlin po-
lice court not long ago servant girl was ac-
cused by her mistress of gross negligence
and disobedience in discharge of her duties.
When the judge asked the plaintiff, a simple
but respectfully dressed lady, her name, she
proudly drew herself up and replied 81 am,
by birth, princess of Zanzibar" Her dec
laration, at first discredited, proved to be
perfectly true. She was a niece of the Sultan
of Zanzibar, whose displeasure she aroused
by secret alliance with Mr.. Ruele, a ma
tive OF Hamburg, who had made her acquain-
lance during his stay on the coast of East
Africa. The Princess, who became es-
tranged from her family on account Of her
marriage with Christian, followed her hus-
band to Germany, where she had, however
the misfortune soon to be left widow. She
attempted reconciliation with her uncle on
his visit to London, but her endeavors signal
ly failed, the Sultan even refusing to receive
her. On Mrs. Ruele's return to Germany
some influential friends Of her late husband
took up her case and laid is before the Gov
eminent, which owing to her high birth and
merits, granted her small yearly allowance.
She is now living in Berlin and gaining her
Nv vfx;pn IN, bar hor