APPLICATION TO THE SOIL. 73 



quantity will not avail perceptibly, unless the applica- 

 tion be made on greensward, or other vegetable matter, 

 these leached ashes may not be worth more than so 

 many loads of clay on a sandy soil ; for without their 

 lie they operate mechanically only, and not as a stimu- 

 lant, or a decomposer of vegetable matter. Therefore 

 leached ashes, perfectly drained of their spirit of lie, can 

 hardly be counted as a manure, serving only the office 

 of a component part of the soil. 



That wood-ashes, unleached, have the effect, before 

 stated, of rapidly decomposing vegetable substances 

 when applied to them, will be evident, not only from 

 the different effect they produce on greensward com- 

 pared with soil long under cultivation ; but we can 

 show, merely by applying these substances to a tub of 

 strong lie, that it has a most powerful and rapid action 

 on them, decomposing them totally in a very short 

 time. 



Yarn put into a bucking tub to be whitened will 

 soon be spoiled if the lie be strong ; and it is a maxim 

 with those concerned in the process, " that the yarn 

 must not remain there long." 



A few years since, my boy was set to wash the apple- 

 trees with lie. He made it very strong ; he used a 

 new paint-brush made of bristles. In less than two 

 hours, the brush came to pieces. It was completely 

 decomposed, or rotted ; it was in that short period 

 turned to manure. A strong piece of woollen cloth was 

 afterwards used. This shared the same fate with the 

 brush, and in less time. W. B 



Framingham, Dec. 1838. 



7* 



