The Canadian Horticulturist. 



41 



that old field pine only yields about four per cent, of potash, while hickory 

 gives twenty-eight per cent., and white oak forty-two per cent. 



The most important difference between leached and unleached ashes 

 consists in the amount of potash; and the following table will show 

 explicitly the per centage composition of each, from certain lots analysed : 



Sand, Earth and Charcoal 



Moisture 



Carbonate, with some Hydrate of Lime 



Potash, (chiefly as Carbonate) 



Phosphoric Acid 



Other matter 



The effect of the application of unleached wood ashes to the soil depends 

 upon the kind of soil to which it is applied. On heavy clay soils the potash 

 has effect making them heavier and more tenacious, but on light soils the 

 effect is most beneficial, rendering them compact and better able to resist 

 a drought. They also tend to correct "sourness" of the soil, by precipitat 

 ing the soluble iron salts to which this state is due. 



Another way in which ashes benefit the soil is in promoting nitrification, 

 by which is meant the process by which nitrates are furnished for promoting 

 the growth of plants, and for this, carbonate lime is necessary to form a base, 

 with which the nitric acid may combine. 



The writer has experimented for some years in the use of wood ashes for 

 peach, pear and apple trees, on light soils, and has found them to give 

 excellent results. The wood growth has been stronger, the fruit larger and 

 better colored, and the crop more abundant. It surely does not pay to allow 

 such a valuable fertilizer to go to waste, or to be exported to enrich the 

 orchards of our Yankee cousins, when we have orchards at home starving 

 for want of them. 



BARN MANURE AND COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 



While we highly commend ashes for fruit trees, we by no means under- 

 value the product of the stables, for in it we have a most important element, 

 called Nitrogen, which is absent in wood ashes, the only difficulty is to get 

 a sufficient quantity for the farm, garden and orchard, and usually the latter 

 goes entirely without. Now, this is a most serious mistake, and no doubt 

 is one reason for the pres'ent discouragement of many orchardists, for the 

 trees have been, year after year, exhausting the soil, without any return of 

 fertilizers. 



