THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



497 



POTS AND PEARLS. 



The industry and ingenuity of man is ever on tlie 

 stretch to secure for himself whatever is useful or orna- 

 mental, and even the destructive operations he carries 

 on in the process of clearing and cultivation are ren- 

 dered subservient to his advantage, whether in paring 

 and burning the soil, destroying the fern or brush or 

 timber-trees which encumber the land, and prevent the 

 growth of more useful crops. 



While the seas in the vicinity of Ceylon have just 

 been frequented by thousands of adventurers, paying to 

 the Island Government largo sums for the privilege of 

 seeking for the precious gems in the pearl-oysters 

 which are brought up by the hardy divers, the new 

 settlers in Canada and the wooded districts of the United 

 States have at the same time been preparing " pearls" 

 of another kind — more useful at least, if not as orna- 

 mental, as the oriental gem, and more certain in the 

 pecuniary return from the land than the precarious 

 lot'.ery of the sea. 



The £20,000 or £30,000 revenue derived by the 

 Ceylon Government from the pearl-fisheries is not to 

 be compared in its beneficial results with the quarter 

 of a million sterling paid by the merchants of Great 

 Britain for the ashes, alkali, and barilla of commerce. 



The ashes of land-plants yield principally the salts of 

 potash, such as barilla, while those of marine-plants 

 afford a large quantity of soda-salts. 



Potash is of great importance in the arts, being 

 largely employed in making alum, soap, flint-glass, 

 prnssiate of potash, for bleaching, the rectification of 

 spirits, and other pur)'0sts. 



In North America, Russi;', Van Diemen's Land, and 

 other places, where timber is an incumbrance upon the 

 soil, it is felled, piled up ia pyramids, and burned, 

 solely with the view to the manufacture of potashes. 

 The ashes, when the heaps are consumed, must be 

 sifted ; and the larger parts, or charcoal, returned to 

 the fire, and burned to ashes. These, as soon as the 

 sifting is completed, are stowed away under coA'er, 

 until it is desirable to commence the lixiviation. 



The ashes received from the United States and our 

 North American colonies contain a greater proportion 

 of real potash than those from Russia and the Hanse 

 Towns ; and hence the difference in price is as much as 

 5s. per cwt. between them. 



The simplest and rudest preparation of potash is 

 called ash-balls in England, and wood-ash in Ireland, 

 and is obtained by burning the common fern or brake, 

 thistles, dock, or weeds of any kind. The reddish- 

 grey ash, being carefully collected, is sprinkled with 

 a little water, and then moulded by hand into balls 

 from three to four inches in diameter, which, when they 

 have acquired a certain hardness and solidity by dry- 

 ing in the sun, ai-e ready for sale. It is an object of 

 importance to determine the values of the carbonates 

 of potash and soda met with in commerce, by ascertain- 



ing the amount of available alkali they contain. The 

 available alkali is that which exists in the free or caus- 

 tic state, and that which exists as carbonate. 



The alkalimetrical processes usually employed are 

 sufficient for appreciating the strength of the alkalies of 

 commerce ; but do not furnish any indication of the 

 nature of these alkalies, as they do not distinguish pure 

 potashes from those which have been nnxed with soda. 

 The Society of Pharmacy of Paris a few years ago of- 

 fered a premium of £125 for the best treatise describ- 

 ing an easy and commercial process for recognizing the 

 presence and proportion of soda in the potash of com- 

 merce. 



The best pink Canadian potashes contain pretty 

 uniformly 60 per cent, of absolute potassa, and the best 

 pearlaslies 50 per dnt ; the alkali in the former being 

 nearly in a caustic state, and in the latter carbonated. 

 All kinds of vegetables do not yield the same propor- 

 tion of potash. The more succulent the plant the more 

 it iiffords, for it is only in the juices that the vegetable 

 salts reside, which are converted by incineration into 

 alkaline matter. Herbaceous weeds yield more potash 

 than shrubs, and shrubs than trees; and for a like rea- 

 son twigs and leaves are more productive than timber. 

 But plants in all cases are richest in alkaline salts when 

 they have arrived at maturity. The soil in which they 

 grow also influences the quantity of saline matter. 



On many kinds of soils in North America the burn- 

 ing of timber has a beneficial effect, which may be as- 

 cribed to the agency of heat and the potash supp'.ied 

 from the ashes. All plants contain alkali, either potasli 

 or soda ; hence salts of these alkalies are constituents 

 of many of the best manures ; and the ashes of plants, 

 rich in alkaline, have always a beneficial effect when 

 applied to land. The earthy phosphates and alkaline 

 salts are the most important of the salient constituents 

 of manure. 



The trade in potash and pearlash has a particular, 

 as well as a general, beneficial effect upon the interests 

 of the settler in the woods ; and the very obstruction 

 to cultivation is frequently converted to purposes of 

 immediate and direct gain. This branch of Canadian 

 industry might be more extensively engaged in, with 

 profit, as there is a steady demand for the product, at 

 remunerative prices. It is largely manufactured in 

 Lower Canada, some of the wealthiest hahitans (or 

 French settlers) being extensively engaged in it. It re- 

 quires but a small capital, and the time occupied in 

 the process is very short. There are millions of bushels 

 of wood-ashes wasted in Upper Canada, which might 

 and ought to be turned to good account. At present 

 large quantities of ashes arc collected in Canada by the 

 Americans, and carried to Ogdensburgh and elsewhere, 

 to be there manufectured into a valuable article of 

 commerce. The export of pot and pearl ashes from 

 Canada used to be very considerable. Twenty years 

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