FERTILIZERS. 



The birch was the common gray or pasture birch, which, 

 it will be perceived, yielded more ashes than any of the 

 others, more than double that of the oak ; while, with 

 the exception of the oak, it was the richest in potash, and 

 in phosphoric acid excelled either of the four. It is sur- 

 mised that the sample of chestnut may have been excep- 

 tionally poor in potash. I have been often told by those 

 who offered me the Canada ashes for sale, that, being 

 made from primitive wood, it was richer in potash than 

 our secondary growth. Let that fact be as it may, the 

 analysis by Professor Storer shows that the average of 

 the Canada ashes sold in New England are worth but 

 about five-eighths as much as the home product ; that is, 

 taking the potash and phosphoric acid as the measure of 

 value, where the home-made ashes is worth thirty-two 

 cents a bushel, the Canada would be worth but twenty 

 cents. Says Professor Johnson, " As a cord of hickory 

 wood weighs, on an average, about 3,500 pounds, a cord 

 of oak from 2,300 to 2,400 pounds, from the above figures 

 we find that the amounts of potash and phosphoric acid 

 recoverable in the ashes of a cord of oak and of hickory 

 are found to be as follows : 



