THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



377 



selling,yai7e(/ or died insolvent. This fact he as- 

 certained by reference to the books ol ihe cnstom- 

 house, the banks, the probate cffice, and from the 

 recollections of the oldest inerchHiiie. If tiiis 

 s'atement approximates to the truth in relation to 

 the risks of mercantile lilie, it should induce Ikihers 

 to instil into the minds of iheir sons a love ol 

 agricultural pursuits. Gen. Dearborn declared 

 that he would prefer a cottage in the country with 

 five acres of ;:round, to the most splendid palace 

 that could be erected in the city, if lie must de- 

 pend upon the eur^ess of merchandise to support, 

 it." — Ohio State Journal. 



A DA^fGEROt'S PROPERTY OF WOOD ASHES 

 EXPOSED, AND SOME OP THEIR OTHER PRO- 

 PERTIES EXAMINED. 



By Dr. John T. Plumer, of Richmond, Indiana. 



From Silliman's Journal of Science and Arts. 



I have recently devoted some time to a further 

 examination into the properties of wood ashes, 

 and especially into that profserty by which heat 

 is conveyed from a email space on their surface 

 deeply Into the interior ol' Ine largest masses. I 

 consider the subject of sufficient importance to 

 claim the attention of the general as well as the 

 scientific reader; (or I cannot forbear thinking, 

 that at least some of tlie mysterious confiigraiions 

 which are repeatedly occurring are chargeable to 

 this hitherto unsuspected cause. 



Judging by i!)e rem tiks of ProT. Hubbard, ac- 

 companying two c^se:? of combust ion in wood 

 ashes, reported by him in a late number of this 

 journal,* it appears to be his opinion that the ca- 

 loric ill question was generated within and near 

 the bottom of the heap, by a spontaneous but un- 

 known process. I conceive that the foltowins 

 experiments render this opinion highly improbable, 

 and they go to sustain Ihe view taken by the pre- 

 sent writer, so far as it respects the oriirin of the 

 caloric, and perhaps measurably as it regards tbe 

 means by which the heat is diffused throushoiit 

 the ashes. They show that the heat-retainins 

 power is not peculiar to aslies, but is common to 

 various pulverulent substances ; that this residue 

 of combustion contains an appreciable quantity 

 of rhircoal in a siate of minute div.sion ; and, as 

 Ibrnicrly slated, that it is unsafe to deposiie hot 

 ashes upon, perhaps, the largest heaps of cold 

 ashes. I shall niarshall these experiments under 

 the head of 



Ignitibility of wood ashes. — 1. A pint of sifted 

 ashes was made ino a conical heap four inches 

 high, upon a folded newspaper, and a coal lighted 

 at one corner oniy, was laid upon the summit and 

 Very slightly covered. In seventeen minutes the 

 coal was examined and innnd to be wholly ignited. 

 It was again covered, and in eleven minutes after- 

 ward, that part of the paper on which the ashes 

 rested became quite warm, and also the board 

 beneath it. On sliding the paper nearly ofl^ the 

 board, and gently bending it convexly upwards, 

 I succeeded in producing a fissure, extending from 

 the apex of the cone downward to a considerable 

 depth. By this means I was enabled to see the 



* Vol. xUi., p. 165, et seq. 

 Vol. X.— 4S 



inferior of my diminutive volcano, and to discover 

 tfiat the ashes within were red Aof, if not incan- 

 descent, as far down as the fissure extended. 

 After this peep, I closed up the crater by sliding 

 the paper back upon tiie board, and wailed an 

 hour from Ihe beginning of the experiment. At 

 ijje expiration of this period, the coal was not 

 wholly consumed, and the ashes were elill quite 

 warm. 



The coal used in the foregoing instance was of 

 sugar-iree wood, and at the time it was placed 

 upon the ashes, two other coals, one of sugar-tree 

 and the other of beech, were thoroughly itrnited 

 and laid upon a board. In two minutes the"" fire 

 went out" ol both these coale. 



2. A wooden pill-box of the largest size was 

 filled with sifted ashes, and an oak coal weighincr 

 seven grains was barely buried in them. In thirty 

 five minutes the box was very warm all over ; 

 and at this time I surrounded it with cold ashes. 

 In twenty minutes more, the ashes within and 

 immediately around the box were uncomfortably 

 hot. 



3. I renewed the second experiment, with the 

 exception of not wholly coverinji the box. The 

 edge was left exposed, to ascertain whether it 

 would not act as a vent to the accumulating ca- 

 loric. In hall an hour I examined the coal, and 

 lound it extinct and the ashes cold. The coal in 

 this case was of beech. 



4. Tills beech coal lighted at one corner, was 

 placed on a coneof eiiied ashes, as in the first 

 experiment, and in fwenty minutes it was tho- 

 roughly ignited. I now pressed a cylinder of 

 pasteboard perpendicularly into tlie ashes, so as to 

 include the coal and most of the heated ashes. 

 'I'he upper edge of the cylinder was left uncovered. 

 I did not examine the coal for an hour; it wad 

 at that time not consumed but dead, and the aehea 

 were entirely cold. 



5. I built a cone of a quart of pale ashes and 

 deposited eight or ten dead coals some distance 

 apart, near the base and remote from the surface ; 

 at the apex I buried a live coal ae before. In 

 three quarters of an hour, stiff paper or a splinter 

 ol" wood thrust into the centre of the heap took 

 fire ; and on demolisfMng the pile, I (ound that 

 the heal had descended to the coals below, and 

 ignited them ; indeed they were pariial'y consum- 

 ed, and the whole interior of the base of ilie cone 

 was extremely hot. 



6. A wooden box, fen inches deep and eleven 

 inches square, was filled with unsifted ashes as 

 cold as an exposure of several weeks in winter 

 could make them. A pint of hot ashes was 

 thrown upon the middle of the surface and left 

 uncovered. In eight hours all the central portion 

 of tlie ashes was hot enough to fire wood thrust 

 into it, and two s'des of the box were incaleecent. 

 In twenty three hours, the bottom of the box was 

 quite warm, the top of the ashes cool, and the 

 sides ol the box were becoming cool. A stick 

 plunged to the bottom of the ashes, was drawn 

 out ignited or burnt at the end, but not even 

 charred above it. In thirty hours the bottom of 

 the box was almost unsupportably hot ; and the 

 upper half of the ashes retained but little heat. 

 In thirty six hours, the temperature of the aehes 

 being much reduced, I emptied the box. and found 

 the bottom of it on the inside near the middle 

 convened to coal, one of the sides considerably 



