PRODUCTION OF POTASH SALTS. 37 



Proprietors and timber merchants are regularly in the habit of 

 conducting these operations, and usually have the necessary 

 labour at their disposal. The price obtained for the ash will 

 allow them to augment their staffs, which will result in an 

 increase of local employment. This employment is of a very 

 light nature, so that old persons and even women and children 

 might be employed. 



In the case of mill fuel (Plate VII. Fig. 2) the method of pro- 

 duction is exactly as at present ; it therefore entails no increased 

 labour bill. 



As regards bracken land, this is treated in a similar manner to 

 woodlands. After the bracken has been cut it is collected into 

 convenient centres (Plate VII. Fig. 3) and there burned. The 

 best time to cut bracken for this purpose is during the months 

 of August, September and October, or even later, if necessary. 

 The labour required to produce bracken ash could probably 

 be readily supplied by estate and farm staffs. 



In all the above methods of production it is essential that the 

 ash be kept as dry as possible, since the potash salts are soluble 

 in water. The ash from the various types of fires, when cool, is 

 put through a three-sixteenth-inch sieve, after which it is either 

 bagged directly or put into barrels or large wooden ash-bins. It 

 is necessary that at each centre of collection the various types 

 of ash should be well mixed, so as to ensure the obtaining of a 

 uniform product. 



Cost of Production. 



The figures given are representative of the cost in cases where 

 the total is put against the ash, and they may be taken as 

 indicative of average conditions under which production takes 

 place. The proved costs of production show considerable 

 variation, ranging from 40s. to 50s. per ton in the case of bracken 

 land, and from 50s. to 60s. per ton in the case of woodlands. 



The costs of production from woodlands and from bracken 

 land should not, however, be taken at their face value. In the 

 case of the former, the ash is in reality a by-product, since the 

 operation of " clearing and burning " is necessary in order to 

 make possible the replanting of the area, and to afford protection 

 against insect and fungoid attacks. Further, timber merchants 

 sometimes undertake " clearing and burning " in their contracts, 

 since the clearing of the area, as felling operations proceed, 

 facilitates and cheapens the cost of extraction of the timber. In 

 the latter case, the increased value of pasture from which bracken 



