122 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



wood, produce a white ash of excellent quality, judging 

 from samples sent on for examination. 



As the dealer is only obliged to guarantee the amount of 

 potash and of phosphoric acid present in a given quantity 

 of wood ashes, no serious ol)jection can be raised on the part 

 of the buyer on account of moisture, etc., as long as the 

 article contains the specified amount of both potash and 

 phosphoric acid. 



Wood ashes ought to be bought and sold l)y weight, and 

 not by measure, for both moisture and foreign matters are 

 apt to aftect seriously the weight of a given measure. 



Some dealers in wood ashes have adopted of late the prac- 

 tice of stating merely the sum of both, instead of specifying 

 the amount of each of them present. As phosphoric acid 

 and potassium oxide contained in wood ashes are considered 

 in our section of the country, pound for pound of an equal 

 commercial value, from 4.5 to 5 cents, no particular objec- 

 tion can be raised against a joint statement of both as far as 

 the mere money value of the samples is concerned ; yet, as 

 this mode of stating the guaranteed composition is apt to 

 lead to misconception and abuse, it ought to be discouraged 

 and discontinued. 



The large percentage of lime, from 30 to 40 per cent., 

 found in genuine wood ashes, imparts a special agricultural 

 value to them as a fertilizer, aside from the amount of 

 potash and phosphoric acid they contain. Wherever an 

 application of lime is desired, wood ashes deserve favorable 

 consideration, on account of the superior mechanical con- 

 dition of the lime they furnish. 



4. Notes on Cotton-seed Meal as a Fertilizer. 



Hecent low prices of some concentrated feed stuffs have 

 favored experiments to test their fitness for supplying 

 directly nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash for plant food. 

 Whenever the market value of the amount of nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid and potash they contain compares fairly 

 well with the market cost of these three ingredients, the 

 trials deserve, for v^arious reasons, encouragement. 



The richness of cotten-seed, meal, linseed meal, etc., as 

 well as their marked disposition to rot in the presence of 



