No. 8. 



Coal Ashes. — Degeneration of Potatoes. 



245 



Coal Ashes. 



Conversation at the Farmers' Club, from 

 the N. Y. Farmer and Mechanic. 



Roswell L. Colt, of Paterson, requested 

 Mr. VVakeinan to call the consideration o\'\ 

 the Club to the question, whether the ashes 

 of Anthracite and Bituminous coal are use- 

 ful as a manure ? 



Dr. Underhill, of Croton Point. — I have 

 thought of that for some time. It is import- 

 ant to decide, for the quantity of the ashes 

 is great and greatly increasing. I have tried 

 experiments with the ashes, and found little 

 benefit, except on my tomatoes, planted in a 

 sandy, gravelly soil ; on these the benefit 

 was very striking — on other plants I noticed 

 but little effect. 



Mr. Meigs. — Analysis shows that the 

 ashes of the Anthracite coal is composed of 

 some fifty-three per cent, of silex, — flint — 

 and thirty-six of Alumina — clay — some mag- 

 nesia, iron manganese. On a clay soil the 

 silex would be useful — on a sandy soil, the 

 clay would be so. Pure beach sand is well 

 applied to clay soil — the benefit is chiefly 

 mechanical. The particles form that degree 

 of looseness in soil which permits the more 

 delicate roots to penetrate. A very small 

 portion of this silex — flint — is chemically 

 developed in the external coverings of the 

 stems of wheat, &c. This wonderful coat 

 of flint, surpassing in its delicate formation, 

 all human conception, is necessary to defend 

 the interior of the plant, and sand should be 

 put upon and mixed with certain stiff" clay 

 soils, and clay upon the sandy soils. 



Mr. Wakeman. — Read Johnson's Analysis 

 of the coal ashes, containing like results. 



Dr. Field. — I have considered the coal 

 ashes to be very worthy of notice. They 

 have been neglected. They contain no ar- 

 ticle that it is not useful — acting chemically 

 as well as mechanically in the growth of 

 plants. They are good absorbents of the 

 gases from the air, and in kindling these 

 coal fires a large quantity of wood is neces- 

 sary, the ashes of which, mixed as they are 

 with the residuum of coal, are fertilizing. 

 Thomas Addis Emmett of New York, uses 

 coal ashes with great benefit to his soil, 

 which is heavy, wet, requiring drainage. 

 He has a highly cultivated garden in which 

 the ashes are used. 



generated ; and on all sides we hear of re- 

 commendations that new varieties of the 

 potatoe should be immediately raised from 

 seed. 



In this, as in all other matters, it is easy 

 I to make assertions; but before we give as- 

 sent to them, we must ask for some proof 

 of their truth. Do the gentlemen who 

 clamor for new varieties, know which are 

 the old varieties now cultivated, and which 

 the new? Have they any proof that the 

 old varieties have suffered in any peculiar 

 degree, or that the new varieties have es- 

 caped ] Can they point out any one in- 

 stance among potatoes in which facts sup- 

 port their views'! We think not. 



Dr. Maclean, a gentleman skilful in all 

 horticultural affairs, raised but the other 

 day, a seedling potatoe of great vigor and 

 excellence : its production is so recent that 

 but few persons yet possess it at all. With 

 this variety, a portion of an old meadow 

 newly trenched over, near London, was 

 planted in the autumn of 1844 and spring 

 of 1845 : no manure being used. The crop 

 was so much attacked by the disease, that 

 not a single potatoe was found worth pre- 

 serving. 



In reality there is no proof in any part of 

 the vegetable kingdom, that the races of 

 plants wear out. Such an opinion was en- 

 tertained, indeed, by the late Mr. Knight, 

 and his views have been adopted by some 

 physiologists. Yet there is not only no 

 proof of their correctness, but the strongest 

 presumption to the contrary. It is superflu- 

 ous to say, that the Golden Pippin apple is 

 the instance on which this theory mainly 

 turns. It is said that it has worn out, and 

 can no longer be cultivated. But the Golden 

 Pippin still appears abundantly in Covent 

 Garden market; trees as healthy as ever 

 are to be found in this country; we ourselves 

 have seen it in Ireland, where there are no 

 symptoms of its decrepitude, and in Madeira 

 it is in robust health. The wearing-out 

 theory, therefore, falls to the ground. — Gar- 

 deners'' Chronicle. 



Degeneration of Potatoes. 



It has been repeatedly asserted that the 

 reason why the potatoe is now suddenly at- 

 tacked by a malady, which at one time 

 threatened its extinction, is that it has de^ 



Early Potatoes. — One word on a mode 

 of planting potatoes for very early crop. I 

 cut off the crown of the potatoe — where the 

 most eyes are — about one quarter of the po- 

 tatoe ; these I put in boxes at this time of 

 year, with earth about as deep as we com- 

 monly plant them. I eat the other parts of 

 my potatoes. These crowns put out roots — 

 begin to vegetate, and as soon as I can set 

 them out in the open air, I do so, and have 

 potatoes from them for my table by the mid- 

 dle of June, nearly one month earlier than 

 "common, — Farmer and Mechanic. 



