176 . AGRICULTURAL COLEEGE BULLETINS. 



fruit grower. A quantity of sand and earthy materials adhering to the fuel, 

 of charcoal, etc., is found in ashes made in the usual way, and some allow- 

 ance must be made for these in estimating their real value. A careful ex- 

 clusion of all such foreign materials would give greater scientific accuracy to 

 the analysis without adding materially in making an estimate of their value 

 as they were usually found. It is a matter of scientific interest to note the 

 ditferences in the composition of the ash of different kinds of trees; of the 

 ash of the body wood as compared with that of the branches of the same tree ; 

 of the ash of the bark, etc. But when body-wood, limbs and bark are all 

 reduced to ashes in the stove or furnace, with some accidental dirt present, 

 the farmer wants to know the value of such ashes just as he finds them. 



So in the case of leached ashes, he cares less to know what is the value of 

 ashes from which every trace of soluble materials has been removed by pro- 

 longed exhaustive treatment with water, than to know what is their value 

 when leached in the ordinary way and thrown out when further leaching 

 does not pay. 



In selecting specimens of ashes for analysis I have aimed to secure repre- 

 sentative specimens directly from the stove, furnace, ashery, etc., in the con- 

 dition in which the buyer would find them. The market condition rather 

 than the scientific condition has been the object in these selections. 



ESTIMATE OF VALUE. 



In making an estimate of the cash value of ashes I call potash worth five 

 cents a pound ; insoluble phosphoric acid, 5 cents a pound, and the mixed 

 carbonates of lime and magnesia one-eighth of a cent a pound, because these 

 materials would cost these sums if purchased separately at wholesale rates in 

 the open market. 



Some may ask, why place a value on ashes any more than on any other 

 waste product? The answer is that when these materials are used with skill 

 on farm or orchard, they pay the cost and leave a profit besides in the 

 increased production and improved quality of the crop. 



AVhen we consider how large an amount of vegetable matter is represented 

 by a small amount of ash, the value of wood ashes for manure becomes 

 evident. Thns only ten pounds of ash remain from the combustion of a cord 

 of hardwood, and only five pounds from a cord of soft wood. One hundred 

 pounds of ash represent the mineral matter of 85 bushels of wheat, 85 bushels 

 of corn, or a ton of timothy hay. Eleven tons of gooseberries, grapes, black- 

 berries, peaches or apples would each contain only 100 pounds of ash. 

 Seven tons of cherries, plums or raspberries contain only 100 pounds of 

 mineral matter. 



This gives some idea of the large amount of farm or orchard produce 

 which will be represented by a small weight of mineral matter. But small 

 as is the amount of ash, it is still indispensable for the production of these 

 crojjs, and must be present in the soil in available form before profitable 

 cultivation is possible. 



Let it not be supposed that the ash in all these crops is identical in com- 

 position. The ash of each class of plants has a composition peculiar to 

 itself, and differing in some respects from that of other classes ; yet there is 

 a certain similarity in the ash of all cultivated plants. When the ashes of 

 vegetable substances are served up for any plant by mixing them with the 

 soil, such plant does not of necessity order every dish on the bill of fare, but 



