ASHES. 



ASHES. 



ing with them with great advantage all kinds 

 of soil, for turnips, &c. 



Mr. Poppy, of "Witnesham, in a pamphlet 

 published in 1830, after giving various direc- 

 tions for burning clay, adds: "Salt (the only 

 inexhaustible universal manure, besides burnt 

 earth) does not increase the bulk of straw ; 

 and although it may be, and is, beneficial to 

 corn, it will not be very extensively used, be- 

 cause its benefit is not apparent to the eye : 

 burnt earth produces an abundance of straw. 

 I have seen the corn so luxuriant on the sites 

 of the heaps, where due caution was not used 

 in laying a floor of earth under the fire, that it 

 was rotted on the ground, and destroyed the 

 clover plant. I have seen the beans on the 

 site of a burnt-earth heap even too luxuriant; 

 and potatoes and mangel wurzel a double pro- 

 duce to the rest of the crop. There is no limit 

 to burning earth on stiff clay soils, because 

 the most sterile subsoil, brought up purposely by 

 the plough will, by the action of fire, be con- 

 verted into useful manure. If it is converted 

 into staple, it increases the depth of titheable 

 soil, and acts both physically and mechani- 

 cally." The Suffolk plan of clay-burning is 

 similar to that adopted in Yorkshire. " The 

 common mode of burning earth is to dig old 

 borders, surfaces of banks, &c.; turn it over, 

 and, when dry, cart it to a heap, and burn ; 

 formerly much wood was used, but haulm, 

 straw, dry weeds, and a few bushes, whin-, <>r 

 any thing of that kind, may be employed ; then 

 build a circular wall of turfs around it, cover 

 the heap slightly with turfs and earth, and set 

 fire to it in several places ; feeding with the 

 most inflammable materials at first, afterwards 

 clay or any earth will burn ; when all the earth 

 is on the heap, the walls may be pulled down 

 and thrown on, raising it by degrees as the fire 

 ascends, in the shape of a cone, till all is con- 

 sumed." 



The expense of this kind of clay-burning is 

 thus estimated by Mr. Poppy : 



i. d. 

 Labour, digging, and burning 100 loads, at 9d. 



per load 3150 



Filling, Is. fid. per score Is. 6d. ; carting three 



horses and two carts, 16. . - -136 



Filling and spreading after burning, 3d per acre 15 

 Carting, and laying out over two acres - - 16 



Total per 100 loads 



696 



Or 3/. 4*. 9c?. per acre for 50 loads, or Is. 4rf. 

 per load. 



Clay-burning, according to Mr. Poppy, is 

 certainly not a modern Suffolk improvement. 

 "I have constantly seen it practised for half 

 a century; and the oldest man I ever con- 

 versed with on the subject, spoke of it as com- 

 mon as long as he could remember. I have a 

 workman on the farm who is, I think, upwards 

 of eighty years of age, and has always followed 

 the vocation of burning earth." 



The Ashes from Soap Boiler?. Soap boilers' 

 ashes are a mixture of a peculiar description ; 

 they are principally the insoluble portion of 

 the barilla, potashes, or kelp, employed in 

 soap-making, mixed with cinders, lime, salt, 

 and other occasional additions ; and also with 

 muriate of potash, common salt, and other 

 saline mailers. 



The quantity of pearl and potashes import- 

 ed into the United Kingdom is very consider- 

 able; in 1837, it amounted to 147,329 cwts. ; 

 in 1838, to 127,101 cwts.: of barilla and alkali 

 in the same year were imported 102,135 cwts. 

 and 72,587 cwts. (M'Culloch's Dictionary of 

 Commerce.') 



The insoluble portion of barilla consists 

 principally of lime, charcoal, sand, and oxide 

 of iron. The insoluble portion of potash, or 

 athes, as they are denominated by the trade, 

 will consist of a considerable portion of the 

 same ingredients, added to a varying portion 

 of phosphate of lime. Much difference of 

 opinion has subsisted among farmers with re- 

 gard to the advantages of soap-makers' ashes. 

 It has been recommended as very useful upon 

 strong, cold soils, on peat moss, and on cold, 

 wet pastures. The quantity recommended to 

 be applied per acre by Arthur Young, was 60 

 bushels for turnips; to be harrowed in with 

 the seed. For wet grass lam!>, six loads per 

 acre. For wet arable soils, seven loads per 

 acre. He describes the immediate effects as 

 very great. For poor loamy land, ten loads 

 per acre: the effect very satisfactory. Dr. Co- 

 gan, who has written a paper on the use of 

 soap ashes, has given this letter of one of his 

 correspondents, whom he describes as a plain, 

 sensible farmer: "My experience of soaper's 

 ashes is confined to the application of it as a 

 top dressing on pasture land. About twelve 

 years ago, I agreed with a soap boiler for 1500 

 tons of soapers' ashes. I used to apply about 

 twenty wagon loads per acre, and a single 

 bushing would let the whole in. I was laughed 

 at, and abused by every body for my folly : 

 these wiseacres alleging that my land would be 

 burned up for years, and totally ruined ; all 

 which I disregarded, and applied my soaper's 

 ashes every day in the year, reeking from the 

 vat, without any mixture whatever. 



"I tried a small quantity (say six acres), 

 mixed up with earth ; but I found it was only 

 doing things by halves. My land never burned, 

 but, from the time of the application, became 

 of a dark green colour, bordering upon black, 

 and has given me more, but never less than 

 two tons per acre, ever since, upon being 

 hayned, forty-two days, viz. from May 31 to 

 July 11. The ground I so dressed was 

 twenty-four acres ; and I have had 120 sheep 

 -(hogs of the new Leicester breed), upon the 

 ground from last August to this day (March 2); 

 but I allowed them plenty of hay: and although 

 they were culled in August last, as the worst I 

 had out of 700 lambs, and selected for this 

 ground on purpose to push them, they are now 

 as good as the best I have." 



As by far the most considerable portion of 

 soap ashes is lime and chalk, wherever lime 

 or calcareous matter is a fertilizer to the soil, 

 soap-makers' ashes will generally, if not in- 

 variably, succeed ; but they must be applied 

 in quantities nearly as large as if lime was 

 employed. 



Such are the chief agricultural properties 

 of the various ashes hitherto employed in 

 agriculture. The research is, however, by no 

 means nearly exhausted, for these fertilizers 

 have showed the fate generally attendant upon 



119 



