THE GENESEE FARMER. 



149 



tire, immense crops every year. ITay so obtained 

 would not only be valuable food fof stock, but the 

 manure obtained from its consumption would serve to 

 enrioli the ujiland por*,ion3 of the farm. The same 

 remarks apply to low land which only needs a little 

 draiiiin;i: to make it produce immense crops. Nature 

 has locked up in many of our swampa and swales, 

 mitios of fertilizing matter. 



Peat and Swam? Muok;. — On many farms it is 

 easy to get these valuable crganic manures. I have 

 had but little personal experience iu their use, and 

 ehonld be very glad to hear from those who have, 

 especially in regard to the best manner of using them. 



Bo.NES. — T had nearly forgotton the old bones which 

 might readily be obtained iu considerable quantity in 

 many districts merely for the picking up. That they 

 are a valuable m.anure all who have used them admit, 

 and it cannot be doubted that if collected aiid crash- 

 ed they would be a " most economical " fertilizer. 



ON THE USE 0? LEACHED ASHES AS A MAnURE 



Thk time has been when leached ashes were con- 

 sidered a great nuisance, so much so that ash hop- 

 pers were placed in some out-of-the way place, and 

 let remain there until the leached ashes formed such 

 an embankment that it became absolutely neces- 

 Bary to remove the hopper to some other place. 

 But those days have passed away, and leached ashes 

 are now as highly esteemed here and elsewhere as 

 plaster, and they do not cost farmers anything except 

 the hauling and spreading on the ground. They have 

 been found excellent for gardens, if put on at the 

 proper time, and in the right quantity. I would 

 recommend putting them on iu the fall, and digging 

 them in; if put on in the spring, there should not be 

 as much used, and great care should he taken to have 

 them tvell mixed with the soil. There is nothing 

 better for grape vines: apply them every spring and 

 fall, with other manures. 



jSTo farmer or gardener should be without a com- 

 post heap, and leached ashes should always be one 

 )f the principal ingredients. Leached ashes have 

 jeen found valuable for wheat, if sown over the 

 ground in the fall. Let a field be all of precisely the 

 iame kind of soil, sow it to wheat, and then ash one 

 lalf and leave the other half unashed, and the dif- 

 erence is distinctly visible as far as the wheat can be 

 ecu. The part on which the ashes were applied will 

 le greener aud more thrifty during the whole sum- 

 } ner, and when harvest comes the difference will be 

 f that character which will convince you that ashes 

 re not to be despised as being a nuisance ; and iin- 

 ■ke most other manures, their benefit lasts from three 

 four years, at least. On a slaty loam, leached 

 shes will perhaps have as much effect as on any 

 •ther. On this kind of soil, if one half of the field 

 i left without a dressing of ashes, and they are ap- 

 lied to the other half, there will be a marked differ- 

 nce in the two grain crops; and if then sown to 

 lover, the half on which the ashes were put will 

 i»ld at least one-third more hay than the other. 



In the cultivation of the strawberry, leached ashes 

 re very beneficial as a manure, as they make the 

 round open and porous, — a very desirable con- 

 deration. 



' Leached ashes are used with advantage on almost 

 TOry class of crops, but especially as a dressing for 



grass, grain and Indian corn, though their inmiediate 

 eflects are most perceptible on clover, peas, beans, &c 

 Meadows that have lain out until they have become 

 covered with moss, and consequently produce but 

 small crops of grass, may ollcn be renovated by the 

 application of leached ashes. Indian corn will be 

 very materially benefited by the application of a lit- 

 tle around the hills, while it is small; they should not 

 be suffered to come in contact with the plants. They 

 may be applied to thin, sterile soils, in small quanti- 

 ties, with good eff^.'ct; larger quantities would be too 

 exhausting, and should be applied only to soils that 

 are rich in vegetable matter, unless in connection 

 with other manures. They should not be applied 

 after lime has stimulated the land to the utmost, nor 

 two years in succession, unless mixed with other ma- 

 nures supplying organic matter to the soil, and thus 

 benefiting instead of exhausting it. In those soils 

 which already contain much alkali, the soluble parts 

 of.ashes will be of little utility, and the leached parts 

 will be very beneficial, if judiciously applied, for few 

 soils contain so much phosphoric acid as not to be 

 benefited by its application. John G. Sampson. 

 Laceyville, Harrison Co., Oltio. 



ON THE USE OF UNLEACHED ASHES AS A MANURE. 



Unleached Ashes, iu my humble opinion, are of 

 far more value than many people imagine. I have 

 used ashes as manure every year since I commenced 

 fariTiing, and so satisfied am I of their fertilizing value 

 that I would not sell a bushel for twice or thrice 

 the price paid for them at the asheries. I will give 

 a little of my experience in the use of them, as the 

 best that I can say in their favor. The greatest in- 

 crease caused by ashes that I have known, by actual 

 measure, was on potatoes, used as a top dressing, ia 

 the year 1846. After dressing my corn v.'ith ashes 

 that year, I had one bushel left, which I put on eight 

 rows of potatoes, which yielded at digging time one 

 bushel to the row more than any other rows in the 

 field. It was a sod land, turned over in the spring, 

 and planted without manure of any kind. I have no 

 doubt that the one bushel of ashes increased my crop 

 of potatoes eight bushels. The rows were about 

 fourteen rods long. 



For corn, I think ashes and plaster, mixed at the 

 rate of two parts of ashes aud one of plaster, and a 

 small handful of the mixture put into each hill, the 

 best way to use them. This mixture I prefer to 

 either alone, or both, used as a top dressing. I think 

 it has made one-half difference in the value of a piece 

 of corn, judging from one row left without the ashes 

 and plaster, not from actual measurement. It wag 

 on ground without manure of any other kind. Ashes 

 alone, as a top dressing, are very beneficial to corn. 

 After it has come up, I find where I have used it so 

 the stocks are larger and taller, the ears usually 

 longer and better filled out, and the corn sounder and 

 some earlier. 



For spring wheat I have found ashes beneficial, 

 sown broadcast as a top dressing, but my experience 

 has been small with them on wheat, — limited to a 

 couple of trials. 



On grass, such as meadow, (I have never tried 

 ashes on any other,) if it has run out, so that it yields 

 but light crops, a dressing of ashes, fifteen or twenty 

 bushels to the acre, has increased the crop of hay 



