444 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Jan. i, 1895 
be set out in light sandy deep soil. Crop is yielJe 
the first spring after autumn planting. 
A contract to take all that can be produced for 
five years at London, at the price of ±'10 per ton 
c.i.f. equal to .£20 at least per acre can be fixed. 
As cost should work out to about £7 per ton at 
London, the margin seems a good one. 
For future guidance it may be mentioned that to 
cultivate 1,000 acres of Ramie, it is calculated a 
capital of £15,000 would suffice. Then 1,000 acres, 
yielding say 2£ tons per acre per annum at a profit 
of £3 per ton equals an income of £1,750 on the 
capital of £15,000. Setting off the £750 against contin- 
gencies the result on this basis equals 40 per cent per 
annum. Acreage could be extended out of profits till 
very soon 100 per cent profit basis could b" attained. 
If it were thought well to plant cut right away 
500 or 1,000 acres instead of beginning with 20 acres 
of "nursery," then plants could be supplied for the 
larger acreage. 
With the cheap labour of the East, cost might come 
still lower. 
A HOME-MADE FERTILISER. 
Every intell gent garden r knows the value of wood- 
aehes as a fertiliser, an 1 until a comparative y recent 
period wood-ashes were reaily alrmst the only com- 
mercial manure that was procurable in America, 
artificial manures not having come into use in that 
country. But it is eomewhat remarkable that the 
value of woo !-ashes and the beneficial results of 
their application to the soil, are generally attributed 
solely 1 1 the potash which they contain. Undoub- 
tedly potash is an indispensable food for plants, and 
its application to crops is usually marked bv cons- 
Eicuous results. Those gardene s, however, who have 
ad long expe ience with potash in the form of 
wood ashes, and also as potash Malts or kainit, find 
that the latter is not so marked in its effects as the 
former. The fact is, that as recently remarked by 
Mr. S. Macon in the American Agriculturist, wood-ashes 
are really a mixed fertiliser, and a complete one so 
fir as the mineral elements of plant-food a e con- 
cerne 1 . This must be apparent to anyone who 
considers that they are the whole residue of plants 
after being burned, except that part which returns to 
the atmosphere from which it was originally procured. 
The nitrogen and the carbo i of the trees alone 
are thus wanting iu t'ie ashes, which contain every- 
thing else required by plaits. Thus it is tnly 
reasonable to infer that the benefit d- rived fr"m a 
dressing of wood-ashes to any crop, must be due to 
the other elements as well »s to the potash. 
Of course, the value of ashes may vary consider- 
ably accocding to their source, though practically 
this variation is loss than would be supposed at first 
sight. Ashes are richer or poorer in potash and 
otiier useful i gradients according to the kinds of plants 
from which they are obtained, and to the character 
of the soil upon which the plants grew. Also it is 
found that the value of the ash varies according to 
the parts of the plant that have been burned. The 
ashes of twigs (faggot3 for example), would always 
be worth much more for horticultural purposes than 
the ashes of h art-wood taken from the middle of 
an old tree. ; and in general the smaller and younger 
the wood burned the better would be the ashes. 
Taking what is known of the composition of the 
ashes from young twigs and that from ht art- wood 
which has fully matured, one would say that the 
proportion of potash in ashes may vary from 5 to 
20 percent. But a much be" ter criterion of the real 
composition of ashes is afford d by the txperience 
Of potash manufacturers, according to whom a bushel 
of wood-ashes weighs about 48 lb. on the average, 
and yields rather more than 4 lb. of potash salt=. 
Professor Storer has investigated this questio • some- 
what in detail, and has found by the analyses of a 
number of samples of wood-ashes that selec'ed 
specimens contain 8§ per cent of real potash, a d 2 
per cent of phosphoric acid ; or say 4j lb. of potash 
and 1 lb. of phosphoric acid per bushel of ashes. 
Hence there is enough potash and phosphoric acid 
to make the bushel of wood-ashes worth from 10(J. 
to 12d. ; and besides that, some 5d. to 7d. additional 
may be allowed for the " alkali power " of the ashes 
This may be explnined as the force of alkalinity 
which enables wood-a-hes to assist in the rotting of 
weeds, and to ferment peat. 
The notion th»t the ashes of soft woods, fuch as 
Pine and Poplar, are worthless, is an error. The soft 
woods yield comparatively little ashes, and the ashes 
are so light that they may readi'y be blown away 
by the wind; but weight for weight, the ashes from 
soft wood t app ar to be as good for horticultural 
purposes, or nearly so, as those from hard woods. 
The percentage composition of wood-a-hes com- 
monly used by gardei ers is as follow.-: — 
Ash of— Potash Limo Phosphoric 
Acid. 
Percent. Percent. Percent. 
Beach wood ... CM WH 53 
Oak 10 0 7:;.'> 5-5 
Elm ,, ... 210 47-8 AW 
Ap^le 12 0 71 0 4 6 
Fir 11-8 50 1 5-8 
Poplar 140 58-4 13 1 
Pfar 4 2 772 38 
Cherry 20 8 28 7 77 
Average of 25 des- 
criptions of t'ees 55 34.3 P9 
The barks ot trees »re s i 1 more rich in lime than 
in potash, than is shown ia the foregoing tab'e. 
And as all plants contain lime, this eleme'.t of the 
ashes should be t'ken into account, as well ai the 
other ingredients, for it is known that the production 
of nitrogenous plant-food goes on most easily ia soils 
that have a considerable proportion of lime m them. 
Indeed, it may be said that this supplv of lime is 
indispensable to the action of the nitrification-bac- 
teria, which must have lime witLin reach for its 
proper development. 
Actios of Potash ox Soil-Nitroges. 
An objection is sometimes made to wood-ashes as 
a ma> me for horticu tural purposes, that the plants 
to which they are applied gro* coarse. This may 
be du ■ to the nitrog n supph d to the plant hy the 
action of the potash on the humus of the soil. This 
pow r of potashes to make the nitrogen of the soil 
available for plants is undoubtedly a va'uable one, and 
is strikingly s- own in clearing wooded localities For 
wherever a h<ap of wood a'td scrub is bur ed, it 
is noticed that vege'.a'ion aft rwards is apt to be 
particularly rank and luxuriant precisely where the 
1 rgest quantities of ashes are lying. This rankness 
of growth is doubtless to be attributed first to a 
superabundant supply of nitrogenous food brought into 
activity by the aid of the ashts, though it is believed 
that the spots charged with alkali from the ashes are 
in many cases b tter supplied with moisture by capil- 
lary action t 1 an the surrounding portio a of ground. 
Investigations have proved that commercial potash 
fertilisers, used as such, are decidedly inferior for 
plant-growth to wood-ashes. The explanation of this 
fact seems to be that the sulphate and the chloride 
of potash are devoid of the alka'ino quality which 
is so marked a peculiarity of carbonate of potash 
which, as is well-known," is the effective agent in 
wood- ashes. 
As an illustration of the value of wood-ashes as a 
fertiliser, I may mention the following fact which 
has just be n trougbt to my notice. A gentleman 
in Nottingham has two Vin.s, which are very old, 
and were said to be worn out; they had not pro- 
duced a satisfactory crop for several years. In 1893 
they yielded 20 lb. of Grapes of a very inferior 
quality. In the autumn of 1893 they were heavily 
manured with a mixture of w od-ashes and kainit, 
with the result that in 1894, the Dresent year, the 
two Vines yielded 120 lb. cf Grapes of excellent 
quality The potash in the wood ashes, combined 
with the potash in the kainit, matured the wood of 
the Vine, and developed the fruit buds. It will be 
of interest to learn what the result of 1895 will be, 
but 1 should think a little more potash will have to 
De applied in the p-esent autumn, to make up for 
the drain upon this element by the large crop just 
gathered./, J. Willis, Harpendcn — Gardeners' Ckimiclf, 
