The record-union., 1892-12-14

value, and they have an even greater
value as a medicine for animals, and as a
necessary part in soap making on farm.
AS a medicine for farm animals the ex-
perience of years has very plainly shown
me their value. l am certain that they
are very efficient aids in preserving the
health and increasing the thrift of farm
animals. As l have now raised swine
rather extensively for more than twenty
years without cholera or swine plague,
and in that time have not lost one per
cent. Of my hogs from disease, l think l
SIN competent to speak Of those things
that make for the health OF swine; and TO
wood ashes | attach much value as pre-
ventive of disease.
l keep wood ashes, and charcoal mixed
with salt, constantly before my swine i'll
a large covered box with holes two by
six inches near the bottom. The hogs
will work the mixture out through these
holes as fast as they want it. | select
ashes rich in charcoal and mix three
parts of ashes to one OF salt. There is no
danger of the swine eating too much Of
this mixture, or of pure salt, if it is kept
constantly before them, and they are pro-
Vided with water. The beneficial effects
of this mixture are quite marked, espe-
cially when the hogs are fattened on new
corn.
a little wood ashes, given to horses, is
very beneficial. in thirty seven years
experience upon the farm | have lost but
one horse. and this was overheated i'll the
horsepower OF a threshing machine dur
ing my absence, and the only condition
POWDER | have ever used has been clean
ashes. The ashes may be given by put
ting an even teaspoOnful on the oats
twice a week, but / prefer to keep the
ashes and salt mixture constantly before
the horses, and nave made for it 3Iittle
compartment in one corner of the feed
box. My experience is that the best con-
dition powder is a mixture OF three parts
wood ashes to one of salt, and that when
it is given regularly, and reasonable care
and Intelligence are used IN handling the
horse, 10 other medicines are necessary.
l believe that farmers should make
their soap, rather than buy it. While
most manufacturers are honest and hon
orable men, and would not knowingly
use grease from diseased animals, or
mixed with filth, in the nature Of the
case they can know but very little about
the grease that is used in their works;
that grease may he from filthy, or dis
eased, sources. 1t is probable that the
processes of soap making destroy the
germs of disease that may be in the
grease, and yet It is safer, and certainly
more agreeable, TO use soap that one
knows is clean and wholesome and free
from resin. of course the chances of the
high-priced toilet soaps being pure and
clean are very good, but it seems 10 me
that the farmer would better avoid the
cheap soaps for household use, and make
the hard or soft soap for these uses at
home, as he can easily do. Ii the farmer
makes his soap he can use the excellent
concentrated soda lye, or the potash lye
leached from wood ashes. on the farm
soap grease is being constantly produced,
and, If sold, brings mere plttance. II 1t
Is used for soap making at home more is
realized for it, ashes are put to use that
yield a good price for them, and one is
reasonably sure that when soap is APP
piled to his clothing, dishes, or person,
he is not brought into close relations with
the remains Of bacteria from some dis
eased animal, or from one bred in filthy
quarters. Soft soap is most easily made
from potash lye, and hard soap from soda
lye, or potash lye and salt.
When used as 4 fertilizer, ashes not in
frequently produce a greater increase of
crop than their chemical composition
promised; and this is all the more re-
markable because the opposite is usually
true of fertilizers. Apparently the potash
in the ashes increases the production of
available plant food in the soil by induc-
ing or stimulating chemical action. The
great value of wood ashes for all leafy
plants has long been recognized. Per-
haps on no other crop do they produce
such marked effects as upon leafy clover
1t is an old notion, and one proved cor
rect by actual experience, that clover can
be brought into grass lands by applying
wood ashes to them. The long-continued
experiments of Lawes and Gilbert show
the high value of wood ashes as a fertilizer
for clover, potatoes, corn, peas and beans
and many other crops.
The power of the potash in ashes to
hberate nitrogen from humus is we'll
known, This action of potash in max
ing available the nitrogen in the soil is
strikingly shown when land recently
cleared of timber is put in a cron
Wherever a heap of logs or brush has
been burned, the vegetation is rank and
luXuriant. Wheat and such grains fre-
qUently thrive where brush or log heaps
have been burned, showing that on these
spots there is superaDundance of nitro
gen. The experiments and observations
of Angus Smith, Pettenkoter, Pagel,
Storer and others are to the effect that
wood ashes favor fermentation of or
ganic matter, liberating its elements and
making them available as plant food
Hence an application of wood ashes will
usually increase the supply of food avail
able to a crop by an amount greater than
that contained in the ashes themselves
Further, 1t has been shown by Hilgard
and others that the application of wood
ashes to the soil improves it's capillarity,
and therefore gives crops more moisture
/ have found wood ashes most valuable
when applied to fruit crops. Their action
is to increase the woody growth, rather
than the fruiting, being the mineral re-
mains of woody growth. Apparently
wood ashes give the best results W hen an
piled to grapes and apples. They should
De spaded in around the apple tree, and
some distance from the trunk. Some
years ago, when planting out apple trees,
the hole was dug for tree in certain
low, wet corner of the orchard, and it was
almost filled with water ] dumped n
pailful OF wood ashes into the hole.
showed the root of the tree down into the
ashes and the water, placed some earth
over them, and lett the tree to die. But
II did not. That was in the spring and the
tree was only two years old. 1t bios
somed the succeeding August. The spot
wss very difficult to drain and was not
etiectually drained for some years: but
that tree remained unusually thrifty, al
though all others in like ground persisted
II dying. This shows the beneficial effect
ashes have when properly applied in the
orchard, an effect that iustities their care
iul saving for such Gse.-JOhn NJ. Stahl
In Illinois Agricultuust.
ABOUT TURKEYS.
1t does not seem TO be generally known
that tie turkey was domesticated by the
Indians long before the discovery OF the
continent by white men, but such is the
case; hundreds OF large, tame hens of
black and mottled hues'' are mentioned
as being seen by the earliest voyagers to
Mexico. Oveido speaks of the turkeys as
kind OF peacock abounding in New
Spain, the male of which hath a heard
Ikened unto that Of man, and which is
TO the people OF that country what the
Darnyard FOWL Is to u.s." Turkeys were
introduced into the West Indies in I525
and into SDaiu the fol lip1vi,er ,-oar III,