274 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



from the ashes of wood burnt in common chimneys 

 for domestic uses. The kinds of wood chiefly em- 

 ployed are the hiccory, oak, beech, birch, elm, wal- 

 nut, chesnut, and maple. No care is taken to keep 

 these separate ; they are burnt together indiscri- 

 minately, old and young 1 , green and dry. The 

 ashes of the wood thus consumed as fuel by the 

 country people during winter are collected and laid 

 in heaps under sheds, where they remain until May 

 or June, when they are employed for making potash: 

 summer is the most favourable season for carrying 

 on this process, as the frost of winter would render 

 the elixation impracticable. At the time of using the 

 ashes they are at first moistened with water to pre- 

 vent the dust from rising, and are then put in vats 

 capable of containing from one hundred to a hundred 

 and thirty bushels. 



These vats or steepers are furnished with a kind 

 of false bottom formed by a lattice work or grating of 

 boards, dividing the bottom area into small compart- 

 ments, having free communication by apertures made 

 in each of the partitions at their lower part. The ashes 

 are well pressed down, the surface being rather 

 hollowed towards the middle for the reception of the 

 water, which is then poured on the top as fast as it 

 is absorbed and until no more can be imbibed. Ac- 

 cording to some accounts the water is suffered to 

 stand for a week on the ashes *, according to others 

 it is not retained at all but runs out as soon as it 

 has penetrated the ashes in a small stream at the 

 bottom. This liquid is of a dark brown or chocolate 

 colour. After the first water has been drawn off, 

 fresh water is put on the ashes from time to time, 

 until it runs off' void of taste or smell. This second 

 ley is not mixed with the first, but is reserved to be 



* In Tuscany they leave the water on the ashes for four, five, 

 or more days. 



