Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 465 



around the compass ; force of wind, light air or gentle breeze, frequently- 

 calm. The rain wet the ground about three inches deep, and grass is 

 now an inch high. Would you like a monthly report such as this, 

 with a few observations on the forwardness of grains, vegetables, 

 fruits, &c. ? It is a more exact idea of the climate than pages of 

 writing. 



Mr. Is, C. Meeker. — The club assures Mr. Ramford that just such 

 accounts are always acceptable, and we invite farmers to give them, 

 not only from the Pacific slope, but the Atlantic, and every part of 

 the great central valley. As to his question about oranges, we sug- 

 gest tliat he send to Louisiana for seeds and cions of the sweet, thick- 

 skinned orange growing there. Oranges like a moist climate not 

 very far from the sea. If he will address A. B. Bacon, of I^ew 

 Orleans, his wishes with regard to orange plants may be met. 



Value of Coal Asues. 



Mr. William E. Clarke, Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio. — I 

 have used coal ashes, both anthracite and bituminous, for twenty 

 years as an absorbent and deodorizer, and have found them so valua- 

 ble that I have called them the farmei's' and gardener's casket. In 

 The Plough^ edited by Solon Robinson,, of August, 1852, page 261, 

 we find an analysis of anthracite coal ashes, by Prof. Bunce, in which 

 the soluble alumina is set down at three and a half to four and a 

 quarter in white and red ash, and the insoluble matter at eighty-eight 

 and a half and eighty -five and a Iialf per cent (about) respectively; 

 in other analysis that I have seen (see N. Y. State Ag. Reports, 

 about the years IS'IS— i6), this insoluble matter is set down at ft'om 

 thirty-eight to forty per cent. I have never seen an analysis of 

 bituminous coal ashes, but believe them to contain a still larger 

 amount of alumina. Kow here is a larger amount of alumina than 

 is contained in any soil, or even in the stiff Albany clay, so perfectly 

 friable as to be more easily mixed and distributed tlian either soil or- 

 clay, and consequently far more valuable than either for the above- 

 purposes; and as coal is now so generally used, almost every family- 

 will have ' every day material enough to supply an " earth closet " 

 ready at hand. I have used bituminous coal ashes in my hen house, 

 sifting it directly under the roosts every morning, instantly purifying 

 the foul aii\ keeping my hennery sweet and clean, and taking out in 

 the spring a cart load of guano as good as the best. Coal ashes 

 should be sifted and kept perfectly dry until used. I think that it is 



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