9) 
Wood.] 326 [Feb. 2, 1872. 
used, in proportion to the extent of ground, I am not prepared to 
say ; but I believe that I have employed from 25 to 50 bushels of the 
fresh wood-ashes to the acre. I have no doubt, however, that this 
quantity might be greatly exceeded, not only safely but with advantage ; 
as shown by the effects, before mentioned, of the poke ashes, which 
must have been equivalent in alkaline strength to at least 20 times the 
quantity of common unleached ashes. 
Every farmer, in whose family the ashes are lixiviated for the preparation 
of soft soap, has it in his power to make a little experiment, the result of 
which may determine his future course. Let him beg from the women a 
bucket full of lye, and, after sowing his wheat in the autumn, let him, by 
means of a tin watering can with perforated spout, sprinkle the liquid 
equally over a small portion of the field, and repeat the process upon the 
same plot of ground when the wheat begins to resume its growth in the 
spring. If he find the product of the small plot thus treated greatly in 
excess of the average of the field, he may gain confidence to proceed on a 
larger scale, and thus perhaps, materially advance his income. 
Within about a year, my attention has been attracted to the potato 
erop, with reference to the use of fresh ashes in its cultivation, and I 
have little doubt that the same treatment may be applied to this as to the 
wheat, with at least equal advantage. On consulting the chemical au- 
thorities, I found that the stems and leaves of the common Irish potato 
are even richer than the wheat plant in the salts of potassa ; their ashes 
containing 55 parts of potassa in the 1000, while the proportion of wheat 
is only 47. Now the potato crop has of late years, in my neighborhood, 
been much more uncertain than formerly ; even, I think, independently 
of the disease which has from time to time made so much hayoe with 
this crop. It is highly probable that the cause, as in the case of 
fruit trees, may be a deficiency in the supply of potassa, and it is 
not impossible that the disease which is believed to have its origin in 
a microscopic fungus, may, like the worm at the root of the peach, 
depend upon the deprivation of the alkali, which may be necessary 
to the protection of the plant against these low parasites. To deter- 
mine this point, as far as a single observation could do so, I hada 
quantity of potatoes planted last spring in rows, a certain number of 
which were supplied with fresh ashes in the hills, while the remainder 
were treated only with manure. In the rows in which ashes were 
used, the plant grew much more vigorously than in the others, and 
the product in potatoes was, I believe, about double ; though I cannot 
recall the precise figure, in this case. 
I have under way, this season, an experiment on the application of fresh 
ashes to the wheat crop on a much larger scale than the first ; and my in- 
tention is to pursue a similar plan with the potato, at the time of plant- 
ing in the spring. Should I be spared to see the results of these trials, il 
hope to be able to present a statement about them to the Society. Should 
the opportunity offer, I intend also to try how facts will support my 
ake 
