MOLASSES FROM SUGAR-BEETS 533 



wet. These effects are probably due to the lime content of the 

 ash, a property moreover favorable to nitrification and adapted 

 to correcting acidity. Injurious iron salts, which are sometimes 

 found in wet and sour lands, are precipitated by the ash and 

 rendered innocuous or even beneficial. A good wood-ash fer- 

 tilizer, therefore, is worth more than would be indicated by its 

 commercial value calculated in the usual way. 



451. Availability of Ash Potash. Harcourt has determined the 

 availability of the potash of wood-ashes by the citric acid method 

 of Dyer. 23 



It has been stated by those interested in the sale of potash fer- 

 tilizers that the potash in wood-ashes is not all in an available 

 form, i. e., part of it is insoluble and is, therefore, of no use to 

 the plant. To ascertain what truth there is in the statement, a 

 number of ashes was treated by Dyer's method for determining 

 availability of plant food. The following table gives the number 

 of pounds of potash and the amount that would be immediately 

 available in 100 pounds of the different ashes examined. 



Pounds of Pounds of potash Per cent. 



potash in available in 100 of potash 



Name of ash 100 Ibs. ash Ibs. ash available 



White oak 9.39 7-64 82.33 



Birch 8.58 6.82 79.48 



Mixed ash 13.40 12.72 94.92 



Walnut 4-62 4.61 99.87 



Red oak 5-75 4-?2 82.09 



Poplar 10.42 8.78 84.26 



White ash 16.88 15.24 90.20 



Butternut 3.99 3-56 89.22 



Willow 9-59 8.19 85.40 



Average 87.50 



According to this method nearly 80 per cent, of the total potash 

 of the birch ash, and, practically, all that of the walnut ash, or an 

 average of 87.5 per cent, of the potash of all the ashes examined 

 was found to be immediately available. In other words, an aver- 

 age of the nine samples experimented with shows that all but 12.5 

 per cent, of the total potash would be in a form of which the 

 growing plant could make use at once. 



452. Molasses from Sugar-Beets. The residual molasses re- 

 Ontario Agricultural College, 23rd Annual Report, 1897 : 27. 



