PROCEEDIKGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB, 363 



did not know, but thought it probable, as no ashes are left, that 

 the potash is sublimated, passing off in a vaporous condition. 

 Air-tight stoves make less ashes than common stoves, but whether 

 the ashes are stronger or not, he was not prepared to say. 



Dr. Weaver. — People generally do not burn wood for the sake 

 of the ashes, but for the heat; and we know that ashes in a stove 

 form a reservoir for heat. The effect in evaporating the salts is 

 of very little consequence. 



Dr. Waterbury. — The ashes of anthracite coal have scarcely 

 any potash in them. By the process which fossilized the wood, 

 the potash has been dissipated, just as it is in the coal pit, and 

 in air-tight stoves. The silica and potash, which by a sufficient 

 heat will form glass, must enter the plant in a soluble state. So 

 that ashes may be injured not merely for leaching, but for agri- 

 cultural purposes by over-heating. 



Mr. Robinson had 100 barrels of ashes almost ruined for leach- 

 ing by taking fire after having been stored away in a brick ash- 

 house. The ashes taken up from an ordinary fire contain probably 

 ten to twenty per cent, in bulk of charcoal. When that charcoal is 

 ignited, the fire will run through the heap. It is not safe there- 

 fore to put hot ashes into a barrel, even if they are not allowed 

 to touch the wood. 



FRUIT ORCHARDS. 



Mr. Henry inquired whether red clover is injurious in fruit 

 orchards. He had been informed that it is, and that its efiects 

 could be perceived in the dwarfed appearance of the trees. 



Mr. Carpenter said that the tree should be encouraged to feed 

 upon the surface, while the red clover feeds far beneath. The 

 red clover dies out every few years, leaving the ground in a 

 better condition. He should have no objection to it for an 

 orchard. 



The President. — Any crop grown in an orchard is disadvanta- 

 geous to it. The roots of the apple tree extend from fourteen to 

 twenty-eight feet deep. I have found them as large as my arm four- 

 teen feet below the surface. Horses should never be used in plow- 

 ing among trees. We should always plow with oxen, and as near 

 the tree as possible. We cannot injure an orchard by ploAving 

 if we commence in that way ; for the principal roots will grow 

 out of the way of the plow; but if we take an orchard where the 

 roots have been habituated to grow near the surface, a deep plow- 

 ing might injure it. 



