lie (anadian "Horticdltdrist 



v_ 



FEBRUARY, 1905 



Volume XXVIII 



Number 2 



WOOD ASHES ARE A VALUABLE FERTILIZER 



J'ROF. R. HARCOURT, O. A. C, GUICIJMl, ONT. 



WHEX properly applied wood ashes 

 are of great value for increasing 

 both the quantity and (piality of the various 

 crops of the farm and garden. Yet, im- 

 mense quantities of this valuable fertilizer 

 are exported annually from this province. 

 Returns from the Department of Customs, 

 Ottawa, show that during the last calendar 

 year $43,392 worth of ashes were exported 

 from Ontario. 



These ashes were probably bought from 

 their original owners for not more than five 

 cents per bushel, when, at the lowest calcu- 

 lation, figuring their value at the market 

 price of the potash and phosphoric acid con- 

 tained in them, thev would be worth fully 

 five or six times that. In addition to this, 

 in the aggregate, tons and tons of ashes are 

 allowed to go to waste through being ex- 

 posed to the rains. 



The three substances specially required 

 by plants to induce a healthy ana vigorous 

 growth are : potash, phosphoric acid, and 

 nitrogen. All three substances have their 

 own particular j^art to perform in the de- 

 velopment of the plant, and neither one can 

 take the place of tne other. 



Nitrogen as a plant food appears to in- 

 fluence more especially the formation of 

 stems, leaves, roots, etc., or, in other words, 

 the growth of the framework oi the plant. 

 Potash is necessary for the formation of the 



woody parts of stems and the pulp of fruits, 

 and is apparently essential to the formation 

 of sugar and starch. The flavor and color 

 of fruits is also credited to potash. Phos- 

 phoric acid influences more particularly the 

 maturity cjf plants, and the production of 

 seed or grain. 



The natural plant food of the soil comes 

 from many sources, but chiefly from decay- 

 ing vegetable matter and the weathering of 

 the mineral matter of the soil. Both these 

 processes are somewhat slow, except under 

 favorable conditions, and both supply pot- 

 ash and phosphoric acid, but only the for- 

 mer supplies nitrogen. Comparatively re- 

 cently it has been learned that by the 

 growth of certain crops the immense sup- 

 ply of nitrogen in the atmosphere may be 

 drawn on to replace that taken out of the 

 soil by plants, consequently it is only for 

 special crops and under special conditions 

 that nitrogen need be applied to the soil 

 other than as farm yard manure. 



In the case of potash and phosphoric acid 

 it is somewhat different. The supply will 

 depend on the nature of the rock from 

 which the soil was formed and on the 

 amount of these constituents returned in the 

 form of manure. Clay soils usually con- 

 tain large quantities of these ash constitu- 

 ents, the availability of which will depend 

 largely on cultivation, drainage, etc. On 



53 



