'29S 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MARCH 23, 1S4«. 



ASHES AS MANURE. 



The following is from " the Transactions nf tho 

 Society for Promoting Agriculture in the State of 

 Connecticut" : — 



" What c:^periiiients have been made with ashes ? 

 •On wiiat soils, for what crops, and for w hat r^rasses ? 

 "What success hns attended the use ? Are leached 

 or unlenched a.^hcs most beneficial as a manure ? 

 Do they equally suit upon the same soils, and for 

 -|he same crops ? In what quantities arc they to 

 be used ?" 



Mr .Hunter, of IVMinirfoid. I have made use 

 of leached ashes, as manure for crops and grasses, I 

 and find it excellent for both upon dry land. When 

 my grass fails, I plow up my land, and the ashes 

 serve again as manure for a crop, and afterwards 

 (or grass. But ashes have not benefited my «ct 

 land, tliat was unfit to plow ; for though they in 

 most instances introduce clover, yet thf; land will 

 soon bo covered with moss, when it is rendered 

 unfit for any thing, and if it cannot be recovered 

 from the moss by plowing, it is- injured instead of 

 being, benefited. 



Mr Tomiinson, of Mitford. We have found 

 teached a^hes to be excellent manure for flax. 



Mr Parsons, of Durham. I have used unloach- 

 cd ashes for many years, as manure for Indian corn, 

 f'put a handful round each hill, soon after the first 

 hoeing, and have much benefited my crop by this 

 trwiliod, having frequently omitted some hills, for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the benefit derived 

 from the ashes. I have always found myself richly 

 rqiaid both for the manure and for my labor. The 

 fjreatest advantage has accrued when a rain has 

 followed shortly after my applying the ashes. 



Mr A'oah Fouler, of Guilford. I have found, 

 from experience, that leached ashes is a very bene- 

 ficial manure for wheat and rye. It appears to me 

 to be a great preventative of blasts. 



Mr .^ndreiii Hull, Jr., of Cheshire. I have re- 

 ceived great benefit from leached ashea as manure 

 for wheat and rye. But I have not found thai it 

 prevented blasts. 



was perhaps ever known in the memory of man. 

 I observed that all tho spots where legs were burn- 

 ed, were much more moist than any where else. 

 This circumstanc- particularly attracted my atten- 

 tion, as I had been taught that ashes weie of a 

 hot, droughty nature, suited only to wet land. 



In 17(;."), I planted a wheat stuhhle, which was. 

 new land and sandy soil, which had been thorough- 

 ly burned when tilled for wheat. Part of the corn 

 was dressp.d with a handful of ashes to a hill, at 

 the first hoeing; here, for the fu-st time, within my 

 knowledge, ashes failed of producing any benefi- 

 cial effect. 



lou^h sward, and on cloddy land, as applied 

 my neighbors, in sundry instances. 



I have often found ashe?, both leached and i 

 Icach'^d, to bo very benefici.il to grass on dry la' 

 but not on wet. I have never found them use 

 on my garden. 



From my experience and observation, I concio 

 that ashes is best applied on dry grass land, or 

 land now ly plnwed up, or where shades have lat 

 been taken off, or where grass turf or other vej 

 table substances remain undissolved : in each 

 which cases, there is contained in the soil f< 

 for plants, unprepared for vegetation. To efTe 



Soon afterwards I planted a tough sward, part | therefore, a speedy preparation, ashes is an imp 



of which was ashed in quantity us above. The 

 part dressed with ashes grew remarkably, while the 

 other appeared languid and pale, as if grub-eaten, 

 until the second hoeing, after which it began to 

 recover and to thrive better ; but it finally produc- 

 ed not Uiore than half as much as the part to which 

 ashes was applied. 



From the experiments of myself and my neigh, 

 bors, I formed the conclusion that not only on new 

 land, which has been recently burned, but also on 

 land which has been kept mellow by tillage for 

 one or two past seasons, and where little or no un- 

 dissolved vegetable substance remains, no visible 

 benefit accrues ; of which, the following facts may 

 be considered as farther illustration. 



In I70G, I planted corn after rye, the land cloddy 

 and full of stubble ; one end of it was very tough, 

 and was planted with potatoes; a few hills of the 

 potatoes, and most of the corn were aihcd ; some 

 of the corn was dressed with gypsum — all was 

 benefited, but the potatoes much the most. 



In 17il7, I again planted corn on cloddy land, 

 encumbered with stubble. I carted on barn yard 

 yard manure, not well rotted. I ashed a part, by 

 which the crop was enhanced at least one third. 



In 1708, I fallowed a lot, much exhausted by 

 plowing. It was a dry loam, with tender sward. 

 Carted on barn yard manure, ten loads to the acre, 

 and plowed it four times. I sowed half an acre 

 with wheat, and strewed over the half acre a small 

 j load of leached ashes, and eight or ten bushels of 

 unle.Tched ashes. The wheat at first grew sur- 

 Mr Hotcomb, of .Simsbury. I have made use of | prisingly, and though it did not hold out according 



tinleached ashes, as manure, for Indian corn, and 

 have derived great benefit from it on dry land. 

 Whenever I have used it for corn, where the land 

 was wot and heavy, it has been of no advantage to 

 the crop at all. 



Mr yfadsworth, of Durham. One of my neigh- 

 bors planted a field with Indian corn, and applied 

 Unleached ashes to thirtysix hijls. During the 

 first part of the season, the corn on which the ash- 

 es wai put, appeared much better than that in the 

 other J •■* of the field, to which no ashes was np- 

 pWci. vVlien the corn was gathered, the thirtysix 

 liiils, to which ashes was applied, and thirtysix 

 adjoining hills 'which hud none, wore measured, 

 end those which had no ashes were found to be the 

 most productive and to hare the superiority over 

 those on which ashes was put. This was on heavy 

 land. The same neighbor made the experiment 

 on light dry land. A part of his crop of corn was 

 ashed and a part was not. Here, the a'ihed corn 

 3iiuch exceeded the other. 



Mr I'li lironson, of ff'aterbun/. In June, 17fi2, 

 J plowed a grass field, of a light sandy soil, where 

 mtlph old wood was burned. The ground was 

 v.ery "Ify- After harvest, I plowed this fallow 

 ■Ijain, TI>o drought continued more severe than 



to its first appearance, it yielded eleven bushels 



In 17'Jil, I planted corn on buckwheat stubble, 

 loamy soil — I ashed a part of it when coming up, 

 and omitted one row. At first there was an ajipa- 

 rent advantage, but by hilling lime it could scarce- 

 ly be discerned, except at one end, where it was 

 Bomewhal cloddy, and there it might bo perceived 

 at harvest time. The other part I dressed with 

 gvpsum, leaving one row as before: the success 

 was the samo as with the ashes. 



The same year I planted a piece of sward land, 

 loamy soil, and dressed the corn with ashes, omit- 

 ting one row, as in the other field ; began to hor 

 the corn seven days after the ashes was applied, 

 when the hill in trie iinashed row, which we crossed j blade being rejected and a raised edge formed 



SCYTHE AND SNAITH FACTORIES. 



There is ol Shelburne a magnificent water pc 

 er, where the Deerfield river, after a union with 

 two principal branches, makes in the course oi 

 short distance a descent over a broken ledge 

 rocks, I should judge, of more than Iwcntyfivc f< 

 This presents a most valuable water power, I 

 the village in its neighborhood is destined to ' 

 come the seal of many factories. 



There is a scythe factory established, where ' 

 business is carried on to a considerable exle 

 The scythe made here has a deservedly high rej 

 tation. There is an improvement in its fa 

 which consists in the usual concave bolloin of 



tunt application. 



Whether ashes do, in fact, prevent worms, 

 destroy them when corn is eaten by them, I b( 

 not boon able to ascertain ; though they have bt 

 often supposed so to do, when no evil of tho k: 

 has existed. I have often, wh»n corn has app* 

 cd languid and yellow, us if eaten by worms, tall 

 up whole hills and carefully examined both 

 roots and the earth, withO|Ut discovering any si(| 

 of worms. In these cases, I have deemed the unp 

 paredness of the soil to be the only evil. Ashei' 

 then a sure remedy. But if the land be well til) 

 the weather be warm, and there be frequent sht 

 er.=, it will be well prepared, without ashes, by h 

 in" time or sooner ; but the corn will not reco 

 the injury it has sustained for want of earlier p 

 paraticm. Hence it follows, ihnt ashes on pi 

 land should be applied as soon as vegetation 

 gins. 



It is best to apply leached ashes c 



is planted, while a team and cart lu ij 



injury to the hills. Hut whether n i 1 ;is 



can safely be applied before the Corn is sprout 

 is a question I am unable to solve. 



The u^iial quantity of unleached ashes for a 

 of corn, is about a gill : but it is worthy of be 

 observed, that where a greater or even a less qu 

 tity has been applied, the effect has been much 

 same. The effects of ashes and gypsum, so fat 

 the application of the two has fallen within 

 notice, appear to be much the same. 



in hoeing, was every where noticed from beii 

 yellow, while the other was a lively green. Afler 

 the second hoeing, a second dressing of nshes was 

 applied on part of the lot, but without effect, 

 even on parts of that row, which was omitted in 

 tho first dressing. About hilling time, the unashed 

 row began to recover ; but finally yielded at har- 

 vest, litlle if any more than half as much as the 

 adjoining rows. 



Tho same year, I observed the like good eflect 

 on corn, both from ashes and from gypsum, on 



the upper and underside, by which great stifib' 

 is given to the blade. The blade appeared to 

 too narrow; but they are much approved by tbi 

 who use them. The English scytiies are in gi 

 oral much wider in iheir blades than ours; ti 

 are consequently not soon ground down, and i 

 motion of them is much steadier; they are not, 

 this account, so liable to be bent, and their ciil 

 more even and close. 



There is likewise here, in the immediate neif 

 borhood, an extensive manufactory of snaiths. T 



