MANURES. 559 



place. I think it may be fairly supposed that the lime adds full its 

 worth to the quality of the ashes, and when limestone can be got I 

 would advise the burning- a small quantity in the mounds, which would 

 be an improvement to the ashes, and would help to keep the fire 

 burning. 



Substitute for Barn Manure. — Dissolve a bushel of salt in water 

 enough to slack five or six bushels of lime. The best rule for prepar- 

 ing the compost heap is, one bushel of this lime to one load of swamp 

 muck intimately mixed, though three bushels to five loads makes a 

 very good manure. In laying up the heap let the layers of muck and 

 lime be thin, so that decomposition may be more rapid and complete. 

 When lime cannot be got, use unleached ashes, three or four bushels 

 to a cord of muck. In a month or six weeks overhaul and work over 

 the heap, when it wili be ready for use. Sprinkle the salt water on the 

 lime as the heap, goes up. 



Ashes may be pronounced the best of the saline manures. They are 

 also among the most economical; as, from our free use of fuel, they are 

 largely produced by almost every household. Good husbandry dic- 

 tates that not a pound of ashes should be wasted, but all should be 

 saved and applied to the land; and, where they can be procured at a 

 reasonable price, they should be purchased for manure. Leached 

 ashes, though less valuable, contain all the elements of the unleached, 

 having been deprived only of a part of their potash and soda. They 

 may be drilled into the soil with roots and grain, sown broadcast on 

 meadows or pastures, or mixed with the muck heap. They improve all 

 soils not already saturated with the principles which they contain. 



The quantity of ashes that should be applied to the acre must depend 

 on the soil and crops cultivated. Potatoes, turnips and all roots — 

 clover, lucern, peas, beans and the grasses, are great exhausters of the 

 salts, and they are consequently much benefited by ashes. They are 

 used with decided advantage for the above crops in connection with 

 bone dust; and for clover, peas and roots, their effects are much 

 enhanced when mixed with gypsum. Light soils should have a 

 smaller, and rich lands or clays, a heavier, dressing. From twelve to 

 fifteen bushels per acre for the former, and thirty for the latter, is not 

 too much; or, if they are leached, the quantity may be increased one- 

 half, as they act with less energy. Repeated dressings of ashes, like 

 those of lime and gypsum, without a corresponding addition of vege- 

 table or barnyard manures, will eventually exhaust tillage lands. 



