ASHES AND PEAT MUD. 369 



the ashes would, in most cases, be less than the bones. 

 But, if bones can be procured, a mixture of leached 

 ashes and bones, four bushels to one, forms a very use- 

 ful application. The compound should remain a week 

 or two before being used. 



Those who have tried leached ashes have been fully 

 satisfied of their superior qualities as a fertilizer. Care- 

 ful experiments, by practical, conservative men, show 

 that land producing one ton to the acre has been so 

 improved by this means as to yield three tons to the 

 acre. Where thirty bushels were used on three-fourths 

 of an acre, in one instance, the crop was increased more 

 than three-fold. Nor are leached ashes subject to the 

 objections which are raised by some against the use of 

 lime. They do not apparently exhaust the soil. The 

 effect of them is felt' for several years. Many farmers 

 have found, by experience, that one bushel of unleached 

 hard-wood ashes is nearly equal to two bushels of plas- 

 ter, as a top-dressing for the drier grass lands. If this 

 be true, what has been said would show that leached 

 ashes are about equal to plaster in their effects on such 

 lands. A peck of lime is commonly used in leaching a 

 bushel of ashes. This, of course, adds to the value of 

 leached ashes for grasses. They contain, also, a por- 

 tion of the alkali which is decomposed by the action of 

 the atmosphere, and the water in the soil prepares it for 

 the food of plants. 



As we have already spoken of the use of peat mud, 

 it is proper here to say that ashes may be mixed with 

 mud in the proportion of six or eight bushels to the 

 cord. The mud is better, as usual, dug in the autumn, 

 though the mixture might be made in the spring, or on 

 application to the soil. If leached ashes are used, the 

 proportion may be about one to three. In this case 

 the two substances mutually assist each other, and the 



