gj'O Oil Ctnis. 



earth. And yet plentiful, common, and important as it 

 is, science has not dignified it with a name. 



To judge of the excellence of soap-boilers' ashes for ma- 

 nure, the following facts may give you the requisite in- 

 formation : — After all the salts are extracted it sells for ten 

 cciits the bushel *, or for one dollar and thirty-seven cents 

 the cart load of fourteen bushels, deliverable at the city 

 ■wharf. When this is delivered to the farn>er at his own 

 landing, the additional cost of freight to the country (as 

 from the citv of New York to Plandomc, 25 miles) amounts 

 to twenty-five cents a load ; making in the whole one hun- 

 dred and-sixty-tw o cents; To this nuist be added the expense 

 of drawing and spreading it oii the land. All this the farmers 

 pay; and yet such is the competition for these refuse ashes, 

 that it is not uncommon for the farmer who buys to ad- 

 vance the cash to the soap-boiler six or twelve months be- 

 forehand. When scattered over sterile grcnmd and ploughed 

 in at the rate of twelve loads the acre, it produces great crops 

 rif wheat, clover, and other sorts of grass and grain ; and 

 its cflects are so durable, that the Ixjrtilizing operation of it 

 may be often discerned for seven, ten, or sometimes even 

 twenty years. It is this disposition of dead ashes to endure 

 which makes it cost so much more dear than street dirt; 

 a material which, though very valuable, is by far more 

 transient. 



Now, on considering the value and efficacy of Ictched 

 ashes it would appear, that though some of its virtue wa^ 

 derived from the charcoal, sooty and other* undccom posed 

 vegetable matter, lime, and the remnant of carbonate of pot- 

 ash which has escaped the lixiviating process, yet that its 

 principal worth was derived from the peculiai' earth w hich 

 constitutes the chief part of its bulk^ It is time to give it 

 a name, and to introduce it into the nomenclature. And 

 in case you should agree w-ith me in opinion as to the facts, 

 I flatter myself you will agree with me also in distinguish- 

 ing it by the word Cutis, or the earth of wood-ashes. And 

 I must own such a coincidence would be very flattering to 

 me with one who has distinguished himself so nuich in im- 

 proving the logical as well as the physical department of 

 science as Dr. Pearson. Under that title it has as good a 

 right to stand conspicuous, and be kiTov»'n and talked of, as 

 either magnesia or lime, potash or soda ; all of which are 

 to be, like cinis, considered as compounds, but retained 



* Our biuhsl is the san e \' Lh vour Wiuchener measure. 

 t* ' nevertheless 



