428 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



them as a special fertilizer, but they contain all the mineral ingre- 

 dients of plant foods. Few commercial fertilizers have as large a per- 

 centage of phosphoric acid as hard wood ashes. Here is an analysis of 

 the ashes of oak wood : One hundred pounds of the ashes contained^ 

 potash, 10 lbs. ; soda, 3.6 lbs. ; magnesia, 4.8 lbs. ; lime, 73 5 lbs. ; phos- 

 phoric acid, 5.5 lbs. ; sulphuric acid, 1.4 lbs.; chlorine, 0.2 lbs.; silica, 

 1.1 lbs. Some of .these ingredients are contained in compounds diffi- 

 cult of solution. If treated, as manufacturers of superphosphates treat 

 bones, with sulphuric acid, the effect of ashes on crops would be much 

 more rapid than if applied as they come from the fire. But that is 

 taking more trouble than farmers and orchardists can be expected to 

 take, and the crude ashes may be used with very good ultimate effects. 



An application of anywhere from 100 to 200 pounds of the ashes to 

 an acre would afford a fair supply of the potash and phosphoric acid» 

 the most valuable ingredients. It would require a very heavy 'dressing 

 of barnyard manure to furnish as much of those minerals as would 100 

 pounds of ashes. The barnyard manure would supply more nitrogen, 

 but the wood ashes would furnish much larger proportions of phos- 

 phoric acid and potash. 



As to the season of the year, we would apply them whenever we 

 had them, as soon as possible. Fall or winter, when the ground is bare, 

 is a good time. Phosphoric acid and potash will not leach through the 

 soil and waste, like nitrogen, but will be slow in dissolving. If ashes 

 are to be applied without treatment by sulphuric acid, the sooner they 

 can be brought in contact with the solvents contained in the soil, na- 

 ture's great laboratory, the better. 



As to how to use them, the most direct and economical way is to 

 scatter them directly over the roots that absorb the food to supply the 

 growing trees and fruit. In an orchard of bearing age there will not 

 be many feeding roots or rootlets near the bases of the trees. The 

 greater part would be found near the extremities of the branches, ex- 

 tending a short distance beyond. We think if such special manures 

 could be spread upon a strip, beginning about two-thirds of the dis- 

 tance from the bases of the trees to the extremities of the branches^ 

 and extending about half as far beyond the extremities of the branches 

 as the space occupied under them, they would be applied where they 

 would do the most good. There would be but little use in applying 

 them near the body of the tree, where there are few except old, large 

 roots, or far beyond the uttermost extent of the branches where the 

 feeding roots will not reach for years to come. We think that barn- 

 yard manure, spread over the area named above, would do the apple 

 trees much more good than the same amount spread over the entire 

 surface of the ground. — American Rural Home. 



