ASHES AS MANURE. 



From llie Now England Fanner. 



The Ibllowiug w from " the Transactions ol'tlie 

 Society lor Promoting Agriculture in the Slate of 

 Connecticut" : — 



" What experiments have been made with 

 ashes 7 On vvliat soils, lor wiiat crops, and for 

 what grasses 1 What success has attended the 

 use 1 Are leached or unleached ashes niosi 

 beneficial as a manure? Do they equally suit 

 upon the same soils, and lor the same crops i In 

 what quantities are ihey to be used ?" 



Mr. Aiwater, of Wulllngford. I have made use 

 ofleached ashes, as manure for crops and grasses, 

 and find it excellent for both upon dry land. When 

 my grass fails, I plough up my land, and the ashes 

 serve again as manure lor a crop, and afterwards 

 lor grass. But ashes have not benefited my wet 

 land, that was unfit to plough ; for though they in 

 most instances introduce clover, yet the land will 

 £oon be covered with moss, when it is rendered 

 unfit lor any thing, and if it cannot be recovered 

 from the moss by ploughing, it is injured instead of 

 being benefited. 



Mr. Tomlinson, of MUford. We have found 

 leached ashes to be excellent manure for flax. 



Mr. Parsons, of Durham. I have used unleach- 

 ed ashes for many years, as manure /or Indian 

 corn. I put a handful round each hill, soon after 

 the first hoeing, and have much benefited my crop 

 by this method, having frequently omitted some 

 hills, for the purpose ol ascertaining the benefit 

 derived from the ashes. I have always found 

 myself richly repaid both lor the manure and fur 

 my labor. The greatest advantage has accrued 

 when a rain has ibllowed shortly after my apply- 

 ing the ashes. 



Mr. Noah Fuwier, of Guilford. I have fl)und, 

 from experience, that leached ashes is a very bene 

 ficial manure for wheat and rye. It appears to me 

 lo be a great preventive of blasts. 



Mr. Andrew Hull, Jr., of Cheshire. I have re- 

 ceived great benefit from leached ashes as manure 

 for wheat and rye. But I have not Ibund thai it 

 prevented blasts. 



Mr. Holcomb, of Simsbury. I have made uoe of 

 unleached ashes, as manure, for Indian corn, nnd 

 have derived great benefit from it on dry land. 

 Whenever I have used it for corn, where the land 

 was wet and heavy, it has been of no advantage 

 to the crop at all. 



3lr. Wadsioorth, of Durham. One of my neigh- 

 bors planted a field with Indian corn, and applied 

 unleached ashes to thirty-six hills. During the 

 first part of the season, the corn on which the ash- 

 es was put appeared much better than that in the 

 other part of the field, to which no ashes was ap- 

 plied. When the corn was gathered, the tiiiriy-six 

 hills, to which ashes was applied and thiriy-six 

 adjoining hills which had none were measured, 

 and those which had no ashes were Ibund to be (hi' 

 most productive and to have the superiority over 

 those on which ashes was put. This was on heavy 

 Vol.. X.-19 



land. The same neighbor made the experiment 

 on light dry land. A part of his crop of corn was 

 ashe^ and a part was not. Here the ashed com 

 much exceeded the other. 



Mr. Eli Bronson, of fVaterburij. In June, 

 1792, I ploughed a grass field, of alightfeandy soil, 

 where much old wood was burned. The ground 

 was very dry. Afier harvest, I ploughed this lallovv 

 again. The drought continued more severe than 

 was perhaps ever known in the memory of man. 

 I observed that all the spots where logs were burn- 

 ed were much more moist than any where else. 

 Tnis circumstance particularly attracted my atten- 

 tion, as 1 had been taught that ashes were of a 

 hot, droughty nature, suited only to wet land. 



in 1795, I planted a wheat stubble, which was 

 new land and sandy soil, which had been 

 thoroughly burned when tilled lor wheat. Part 

 of the corn was dressed with a handful of ashes 

 to a hill, at the first hoeing ; here, for the first 

 time, within my knowledge, ashes liiiled of pro- 

 ducing any beneficial elFect. 



Soon afterward;^ I planted a tough sward, part 

 of which was a.shed in quantity as above. The 

 part dressed with ashes grew remarkably, while 

 the other appeared languid and pale, as if grub- 

 eaten, until the second hoeing, alter wliich it be- 

 gan to recover and to thrive better ; but it finally 

 produced not more than half as much as the part 

 to which ashes was applied. 



From the experiments of myself and my neigh- 

 bors, I formed the conclusion that not only on new 

 land, which has been recently burned, but also on 

 land which has been kept mellow by tillage for 

 one or (wo past seasons, and where little or no un 

 dissolved vegetable substance remains, no visible 

 benefit accrues ; of which the following liicts may 

 be considered as farther illustration. 



In 179G, I planted corn after rye, the land cloddy 

 and full of stubble ; one end of it was very tough, 

 and was planted with potatoes; a lew hills of the 

 potatoes, and most of the corn were ashed ; some 

 of the corn was dressed wilh gypsum — all was 

 benefited, but the potatoes much the mosl. 



In 1797, I again planted cori> on cloddy land, 

 encumbered with stubble. I carted on barn-yard 

 manure, not well rotted. I ashed a part, by 

 which the crop was enhanced at least one third. 



In 179S, I tallowed a lot, much exhausted by- 

 ploughing. It was a dry loam, with tender sward. 

 Carted on barn yard manure, ten loads to the acre, 

 and ploughed it four times. I sowed half an acre 

 wilh wheat, and strewed over the half acre a small 

 load of leached ashes, and eight or ten bushels of 

 unleached ashes. The wheat at fir«it grew sur- 

 prisingly, and though it did not hold out according 

 to its first appearance, it yielded eleven bushels. 



In 1799, I planted corn on buckwheat stubble, 

 loamy soil— I ashed a pari of it when coming up, 

 and omilled one row. At first there was an appa- 

 rent advantace, but by hilling time it could scarce- 

 ly be discerned, except at one end. where it was 

 somewhat cloddy, and there it might be perceived 

 at harvest time. The other part I dressed with 



