Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-02
ALL AROUND THE PLACE.

, decayed or diseased potatoes. Such po-
| tatoes. If fed at all, should be thorough
| " cooked first. The disinfection OF SEEDS
and hotbeds may prove inenec.lte II
| lection in the field. sweet potatoes
should be grown in new ground or
| ground which has not produced tuoers
| for several years. This can be accom-
| plished by adopting a suitable crop
rotation. Most of the sweet potato
diseases do not affect other crops
The recent great advance in the price
I of potash because of the German en-
barge on expectation, and in the price
| of acid phosphate because OF the IN
creased use of sulphuric acid for mu-
milton purposes, naturally stimulates
| interest in all home sources of fertiliz-
er materials. Such sources can not be
expected to furnish a large supply. but
| any materials which are availabl"
| should be preserved and used. In this
connection attention should be drawn
| to wood ashes and bones.
Wood ashes prepared by burning the
wood in the air. contain on an average
| 5 to 10 per cent of potash. The con-
| tent of potash is determined by the
| species of plant, the soil upon which
grown, and the portion OF the plant
| burned, whether root. stock or branches.
The potash is in a highly soluble form
| and unless the ashes are protected from
| the weather will leach away and be
lost. Potash must. however. be In this
| soluble form to be of value for Ter
tilizer purposes, and wood ashes prop
erly cared for are. therefore, Valu-
able home source of supply. Farmers
who use wood for fuel should store all
the ashes produced in a weather-tight
place. since by so doing they may as
sure themselves of at least small sup
ply of fertilizer ingredient otherwise
almost 'unobtainable at present.
Bones are another source of fertilizer
materials which should not be over
looked. Ground bone has long been
recognized as valuable fertilizer ma
terial. and as "A source OF phosphorfc
acid its use antedates that of phos-
phate rock. Raw bones contain from 20
to 25 per cent of phoSphoric acid and
or per cent of nitrogen. There are
many methods of treating bones, but
probably the simplest and most salts
factory for the small operator is to re-
duce them to bone meal. They should
first be thoroughly steamed. say in a
boiler such is used for producing
lime sulphur. after which they should
be dried and ground to meal in a bone
mill. Such a mill can be secured at
small expense and may be used for
other operations on the farm The bone
meal SO produced may be applied d.
rect, or in combination with wood
ashes. The application of wood ashes
and bone meal to the soil furnishes the
necessary constituents of a complete
and potash.
A method of composing wood ashes
and whole bones, which is said to have
originated in Russia, is follows:
I'm a trench three or four feet deep
wood ashes and whole bones are piled
in alternate layers. each about six
inches deep. The lowest and the upper
most layers are of ashes. and each
layer of ashes is saturated with water
as soon as it has been laid. Upright
stakes are set in the trenches at in
tervals of about three feet at the be-
ginning. and they are withdrawn after
eight of ten days time. Into the holes
which the stakes have left enough
water is poured to saturate anew the
ashes. At the end of two months. when
the bones have become considerably
softened. the heap should be thrown
over. moistened and allowed to fer
ment anew. This process should be re-
peated at intervals as often as neces-
sary. Five months and three turnings
should be sufficient"