73 ON MANURES, AND THEIR 



ON MANURES, AND THEIR APPLICATION TO THE SOIL- 



Wood-ashes, leached and unleached, are a valuable 

 manure, and, placed in large quantities on light and 

 sandy loams, they alter permanently the quality of the 

 soil, rendering it more adhesive, more retentive of 

 moisture, and consequently more protective of stable 

 manure subsequently applied. 



It is a very common notion that ashes should be ap- 

 plied to moist soils, in order to render them drier. This 

 is clearly a mistake. Though ashes, in small quantities, 

 assist the vegetable growth in all soils, they never 

 should be laid on low heavy lands : they contribute to 

 make such lands, in time, more heavy still. Ashes 

 operate in two ways. The lie from those that are 

 strong is a very powerful decomposer of vegetable sub- 

 stances. It is from this cause that we see so marked a 

 difference when applied under different circumstances. 

 On greensward, newly turned and full of grass and their 

 roots, strong wood-ashes have a powerful effect. They 

 very rapidly decompose these substances, and convert 

 them into active manures. When applied to old fields^ 

 destitute of roots, 6oC. as we often apply them by the 

 single handful to a hill of corn, they seem to be of little 

 use, there being nothing on which they can operate. 

 They only serve to render the soil more compact and 

 adhesive ; but the quantity thus used is too small to 

 produce a sensible effect by way of a permanent amend- 

 ment of the soil. But leached ashes may often be 

 purchased at such a rate as to justify the application of 

 them to light loams, in such quantities as to render a 

 material alteration in the quality of the soih Thirty 

 or forty cart-loads to the acre will often improve such 

 a soil, not by virtue of the lie that may remain in them, 

 but of the heavy earthy matter, the dregs, that serve to 

 render the whole soil more retentive of moisture. But 

 as the lie that may still remain in them in small 



