189 



form the most fertilizing ingredients of bones. Woo<l ashes contain all 

 the salts and inorganic substances which trees extract from the soil. 

 They have been used with good effect on nearly every kind of crop. 



100 parts of wood ashes afford 13.57 parts soluble, and 86 43 parts 

 insoluble. The latter is left behind at the Jish works, while the soluble 

 parts have been boiled down and exported as potash. Leached ashes 

 are nearly as valuable for manure as uuleached. This is a fact worth 

 remembering. 



In the great forests of Nature, the mineral ingredients which have 

 been taken up by the roots, in order to form the trunks and branches 

 and leaves of trees, are returned to the soil according as the trees decay. 

 We ought to imitate nature in a small way, and restore to the soil those 

 substances which have been absorbed bij our crops, by applying suita- 

 ble manures. Wood ashes contain a large proportion of lime, potash 

 and magnesia; coal ashes contain a considerable amount of phosphoric 

 acid and Silica. Peat or turf ashes are composed in a great part of 

 silica, and the sulphate and carbonate of lime, but contain little, if any, 

 phosphoric acid. 



A mixture of these ashes makes a valuable manure, and may be ap- 

 plied with success to any grain or grass crop. 



Nitrate of Soda 



Is composed of nitric acid and soda in combination. It is a natural 

 product imported from Peru; 1^ hundred weight per acre, mixed with 

 ashes or mould, has been found an excellent top dressing for wheat, 

 oats, grasses, etc. 



Nitrate of Potash, (Saltpetre) 



Is nitric acid and potash in combination. It is a mineral manure im- 

 ported from the East Indies; one hundred weight per acre, mixed with 

 ashes or rich mould, and spread broadcast, has been used with conside- 

 rable success, as a top-dressing for wheat. 



Clover as a Manure. 



Red clover is extensively used both in Europe and America as a 

 preparation or manure for wheat; but a too frequent repetition of clover 

 in the same field will render it deficient as a crop, and useless as a ma- 

 nure. It should not be grown in the same soil more than once in five 

 or six years. 



