Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-11-25
Wood Ashes as a Fertilizer.
A VALUABLE SOURCE OF POTASH, AND
SHOULD BE SAVED.

Valuable SOUhCE OF POTASH, AMI
SHOULD BE SAVED.
Wood ashes carry large amounts o.
readily available potash free from In
furious materials and under present higf
prices Tor commercial potash should bs
saved and applied to the land. The
potash content of ashes varies with The
kind of wood, the method of burning
and the care taken with the ashes to pro.
tect them from rain. In large number
of analyses made at the Maine Agricul.
tursl Experiment Station 1t is clearly
indicated that different samples of ashes
differ markedly In their manurial value.
II is also clearly brought out that the
unleached hard wood ashes are of much
greater value than those from soft wood.
rhis Is due partly to the method OF
burning and partly 10 the way the ashes
are kept. Potash is volatile at q not
very high temperature and In case OF
very hot fires much of the potash lie
driven of and lost. Dump and furnace
ashes are more or less exposed to the
weather. The rains If copious enough
to wet through the pile would leach the
ashes and carry off more or less of the
water soluble potash. In case of a dry
pile partially wet, the water falling upon
the top will dissolve out the potash in
the upper layers and carry 1t to the lower
part Of the pile. In the case of damp
ashes drying ont, the movement of water
is toward the top and the water con.
tanning the potash would be drawn to the
top and evaporste, leaving at the top Of
the pile the potash in the form of more
or less crystalline crust. With the mex,
rain this would be dissolved and carried
down into the pile to again reappear at
the surface in subsequent evaporation of
the moisture. 1t, therefore, follows
that the composition of pile of wet
ashes is not uniform and that portions
Of it would be poorer than other parts
in potash.
In addition to the carbonate of potash,
which Is the water soluble potash in
ashes, there is some insoluble potash
which consists chiefly of silicate of pot
ash. This is only slowly, if at all, avail.
able to plants. Pbosphoric acid is all in
the insoluble form and how readily
available is not known. Wood ashes as
ordinarily prepared carry from 80 to 40
per cent of lime. This lime has the
same value as any agricultural lime.
In addition to their manurial value
ashes have a decided effect upon the
capillary power of the soils. If a solu-
tion of carbonate Of potash, such ss
potash of wood ashes, Is poured upon
loam, it will be made muddier and stick
ier than 1t would be if moistened with
water. Investigations show that aka
line solutions seem to loosen the par
ticles of the clayey soil from the par
ticles of sand and float off the clay par
ticles, and thus fill up the spaces be-
tween the sand grains. As q result of
ibis clogging of the pores, the circula-
ton of the water Is much retarded.
That this action of an alkali 10 some
times Of great practical Importance is
attested by the fact that soils are met
within which the particles of clay are
held so closely to the grains of sand that
the soil has the appearance and proper
ties of a sandy soil, although it actually
may contain as much clay as many So
called clay soils. Carbonate of potash
has tendency to keep clay in "pud-
died" condition.
Potash salts also have decided action
upon soil nitrogen. These alkaline solu-
tions have great power to dissolve Or
ysnic matters and render unavailable
nitrogen available. This tendency of
potash to promote rank growth is we'll
illustrated wherever the land has been
cleared of wood and the logs
burned. The rankness of growth which
follows is probably due not only to the
available potash returned to the soil,
but also to the abundant supply of nitro
zenous food made available by the action
of the slkali upon the soil bumus and to
the fact that alkali has tendency to
retain moisture.
As the presence of an slkali favors the
growth of the fungus which produces
potato scab, ashes should be used with
arge care on land where crop of pota-
.o-s is to be grown.
A bushel of good home burned un-
eached bard wood ashes weighs about
Is pounds, and on the average contains
about 4 pounds of potash, ! pounds
of phosphoric acid and Is pounds Of
ime. Ashes of commerce usually carry
/ bout half this amount of potash.
Wet ashes are not much more compact
.han dry. While bushel of wet ashes
weighs considerably more than bushel
,f dry ashes, the difference is chiefly
iue 10 the water. A bushel of wet or
esched ashes contains about so pounds
4 dry matter or practically the same as
. bushel of dry ashes.
Ashes now come under the require
nents of the fertilizer law and should
,srry an analysis showing the percentage
,f potash and of lime which they con-
.aip. The ashes which are shipped in
rom Canada vary greatly in compost
ion, apparently largely due to the way
u which the ashes have been stored. II
q also possible that many of the So
called "unleached ashes" have been par
tally leached. Ashes, when bought in
my quantity, should always be pur-
chased under definite guaranty Of pot
lsh. This is far more important than
he guaranty of lime. The amount Of
lime is practically the same in leached
Is in unleached ashes.-Chas. D. Woods,
Director.
Fall Flowing Kills Field Insects.