1898.] 



PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 



121 



3. Notes on Wood Ashes. 



Forty per cent, of all articles sent on for examination 

 consist of wood ashes. They are sold in the majority of 

 cases under the trade name ' ' Unleached Canada hard-wood 

 ashes." Ninety-ei^rht samples tested at the station during 

 the past year gave the following results : — 



The variations noticeable in the composition of wood 

 ashes are not surprising when we consider the crude mode 

 of collecting and handling them for commercial purposes. 

 The particular eflects of both varying quantities of foreign 

 insolul)le matter, as soil, coal ashes, etc., and of moisture, 

 on the composition of a given sample of genuine wood 

 ashes, as far as its percentage of potash and of phosphoric 

 acid is concerned, depend largely on the particular kind of 

 wood which has served for the production of the ash. The 

 color of the wood ashes in case of dark varieties depends 

 usually on admixture of more or less charcoal, while an ex- 

 ceptionally light color is not unfrequently due to the kind 

 of wood which furnishes it. Some kinds of wood, as elm 



