686 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



From the New England Farmer. 



Ashes against Plaster. 



Many farmers will expend money freely 

 for plaster, and consider it a profitable in- 

 vestment, but at the same time throw or give 

 away their wood ashes ! At least, such has 

 been the case. This is poor economy. While 

 we regard plaster as a valuable article, we, 

 at the same time, rank wood ashes much 

 higher in the scale of fertilizers. It is true 

 that no very accurate experiments have as 

 yet been made to ascertain precisely the spe- 

 cific value of plaster and ashes; yet every 

 one who has applied them to his soil and 

 growing crops must have seen enough to 

 convince him that both are serviceable, and 

 especially that ashes should alwajs be col- 

 lected and preserved with care. In the 

 " Buckeye Plowbsy" some years since, a 

 writer apparently desirous of placing this 

 subject in its proper light, but with some- 

 what less minuteness of detail tLan is per- 

 haps requisite to the consummation of such 

 an undertaking, details a single experiment 

 instituted by himself as follows : 



"I took three rows in a small piece of 

 corn by the side of my garden, and put a 

 handful of ashes on each hill of one row, 

 a teaspoonful of plaster on each hill of an- 

 other, and the third, left without putting on 

 any of either. I cultivated them all alike, 

 hoeing them twice. During the season some 

 pigs got in and rooted up one end of the 

 rows, leaving but about five rods of each 

 that came to maturity. In the fall I husked 

 the rows, as far as they had not been in- 

 jured, and weighed the ears of each: 



Weight of the ashed row, . 49f lbs. 

 Weight of the plastered row, 48} " 



Weight of the row which was nei- 



Carbonic acid, 

 Lime, : 

 Silica, 



Magnesia, . 

 Soluble Silica, 

 Organic matter, 



8.95 

 30.85 

 0.21 

 0.36 

 0.80 

 5.70 



100.19 



Many analyses have been made of the 

 corn crop, and the following, embracing the 

 ashes of the kernel, leaves and cob, we give, 

 in order better to enable the reader to un- 

 derstand why ashes applied to this vegetable, 

 as a manure, must necessarily be productive 

 of beneficial effects. 



Analysis of the ash of the kernel of white 

 fint corn, "grown on a sandy soil, and ma- 

 nured with coal ashes." 



9.500 

 35.500 

 0.160 

 2.410 

 23.920 

 22.590 

 0.405 

 4.385 

 0.367 



Silica, .... 

 Alkaline and earthy Phosphates, 

 Lime, 



Magnesia, 



Potash, 

 Soda, 

 Chlorine, 

 Sulphuric acid, 

 Organic matter, 



ther ashed nor plastered, 



" The 

 over in the sprin 



ground 



crreen-sward, turned 



was 



the soil clay, inclined to 



loam." 



We present the following analysis of the 

 ashes of the sapwood of white-oak, (Quer- 

 cus alba ;) 



Potash, . . 

 Soda, .... 

 Sodium, .... 

 Chlorine, .... 

 Sulphuric acid, 



Phosphate of Peroxide of Iron, 

 Phosphate of Lime, 

 Phosphate of Magnesia, 



13.41 



0.52 

 2.78 

 4.24 

 0.12 



32.25 



99.237 



Analysis of the ashes of the leaves : 



Siliea, 53.550 



Earthy Phosphates, . . . 19.250 



Lime, 6.092 



Magnesia, .... 1.250 



Potash, . ; . . . 12.762 

 Soda, . . . . . 8.512 



Chlorine, 9.762 



Sulphuric acid, . . . 4.185 



115.363 



Analysis of the ashes of the cob : 



Silica, 13.600 



Earthy Phosphates, . . . 23.924 



Lime, . . . . . 0.300 



Magnesia, ... . . 0.900 



Potash, 35.802 



Soda, . . . . . 5.914 



Chlorine, 0.132 



Sulphuric acid, . . . 0.345 



Organic matter, . 2.314 



Carbonic acid, . . . 6.134 



89.365 



The reader will not fail to observe how 

 largely those elements prevail which are the 



