Agriculture, is the most healthful , the most useful , and the most noble employment of man .— Washington. 
VOL. IV. NEW YORK, APRIL, 1845._NO. IV. 
A. B Allen, Editor. Saxton & Miles, Publishers, 205 Broadway. 
MAKING POTASH. 
We have been asked what kinds of wood will pro¬ 
duce the most potash. The following table exhibits 
the average product in potassa in several plants, ac¬ 
cording to the researches of Vauquelin, Pertuis, Kir- 
wan, and De Saussure : 
i 1000 parts 
Pine or fir 
Potassa 
- 0-45 
Poplar 
- 
- 0-74 
Beechwood 
. 
. 
- 1-45 
Oak 
. 
- 1-53 
Boxwood 
. 
- 2-28 
Willow 
. 
. 
- 2-S5 
Elm and maple 
- 
- 
- 3-90 
We are of opinion that this table is a pretty fair cri¬ 
terion of the amount of potassa to be found in Ame¬ 
rican trees. It is well known among those practi¬ 
cally engaged in the manufacture, that the sugar ma¬ 
ple is among the most valuable we have for making 
potash, and this tree, till transplanted from America, 
was unknown in Europe. We have no doubt there 
are several others highly valuable, and we hope 
what we have now said on this head will induce 
some one to give us full particulars on the whole sub¬ 
ject. But it is not of much importance to the manu¬ 
facturer of potash to know what kind of wood will 
make the most, unless he is a purchaser of ashes 
solely for this purpose. Those who make potash, 
usually do it from the ashes of the forest cut down 
to clear up the land for cultivation; the potash, 
therefore, is only a secondary consideration with 
them. They will see from the above table, that the 
ashes of elm and maple are the most valuable to make 
otash, and pine the least so. We wish some capa- 
le person could be induced to experiment on the 
ashes of American trees. It would be a matter of 
considerable importance to the country to do so. Of 
the manner of making potash, a friend thus writes ust 
Forty years ago I was engaged in this business. 
My ashery building was forty feet square, with a 
deep underground story without a floor, ten or twelve 
feet from the ground to the timbers overhead, with an 
attic story to receive the ashes. My vats were both 
square and round (the shape being immaterial), with 
sliding doors in the floor of the attic, through which 
the ashes passed into the vats : the water was brought 
in pipes, and conducted into them as needed. The 
ley was conducted by small troughs from the vats 
into the boilers, which were large potash kettles, and 
set three in a furnace, one behind the other. The 
back kettle always boils first, and evaporates faster 
than the one next the mouth of the furnace. This 
boiling was continued until all the watery particles 
were evaporated, and a thick, dark substance formed, 
called salts. A very hot fire was still kept up, until 
the whole mass was melted ; when it was dipped out 
with an iron ladle with a long handle, into iron ket¬ 
tles, to cool. Here it becomes a solid mass like a 
rock, and is then broken in pieces and put into strong 
air-tight casks for shipment. Lime ought always to 
be used in extracting the ley. This may be done by 
laying it over the straw at the bottom of the leach ; 
or by laying it upon the top of the ashes after the 
leach is filled, and filtering the water through it; or 
it may be mixed in very small quantities with the 
ashes as they are put into the leach. 1 have used it 
in all these ways, and have found it to answer equal¬ 
ly well in each. When the ley becomes so weak 
that it will not bear up an egg or potato, it ought 
then to pass through a fresh leach of ashes, until 
there be little or no strength to it, thus saving all that 
is valuable. 
All cannot have a side hill on which to erect an 
ashery; some must, consequently, build on level 
ground; but it is not as convenient. 
The ashes ought all to be drawn away and spread 
