84 
RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
January  15,  11)16. 
HOPE  FARM  NOTES 
lias  anyone  used  sifted  coal  ashes  on 
corn  or  beans?  I  can  get  all  I  want  to 
use  for  the  hauling  of  them  a  distance  of 
one  mile.  1  have  seen  where  there  have 
been  cartloads  of  unsifted  coal  ashes 
dumped  and  the  witch  grass  grew  like 
pigweed  in  an  old  hogpen.  Do  you  think 
iT  I  should  get  a  ton  of  sifted  coal  ashes 
and  put  it  on  three  acres  of  beans  in  the 
row  with  a  planter  that  it  would  pay,  or 
would  it  be  advisable  to  put  on  more? 
New  Hampshire.  .  c.  s. 
We  have  used  coal  ashes  in  several 
ways — for  drying  out  hen  manure,  for 
absorbing  liquid  manures,  for  "loading” 
fertilizers  as  "mulcli”  around  trees,  and 
directly  upon  the  soil.  A  ton  of  such 
ashes  put  on  three  acres  of  beans  would 
not  make  any  showing,  since  there  is  little 
or  no  plant  food.  A  ton  of  ashes  from 
anthracite  coal  contains  only  three 
pounds  each  of  potash  and  phosphoric 
acid,  and  no  nitrogen  at  all.  As  a  fertil¬ 
iser  therefore  the  coal  ashes  would  m>f 
pay,  yet  it  is  true  that  when  eight  or  10 
tons  of  such  ashes  are*  harrowed  into  au 
acre  of  soil  we  often  have  good  crop  re¬ 
sults.  This  seems  to  be  due  to  a  change 
in  the  texture  of  the  soil.  The  line  ashes 
work  down  iu  and  act  to  close  up  a  coarse 
sandy  soil,  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
they  open  up  or  loosen  a  heavy  clay.  In 
either  case  the  soil  is  better  able  to  hold 
moisture  and  to  admit  air  and  thus  eu- 
ablc  plants  to  make  better  use  of  the 
natural  plant  food  in  the  soil. 
Why  Pooh. — That  seems  to  he  the 
story  about  coal  ashes.  It  is  not  a  fer¬ 
tilizer.  since  it  adds  practically  no  plant 
food,  but  it  does  help  to  tit  the  soil  so 
that  it  makes  a  better  soil  for  the  crop. 
I  can  well  understand  this  desire  to  use 
coal  ashes.  Everyone  knows  that  potash 
is  out  of  our  reach,  and  they  have  heard 
of  the  great  value  of  wood  ashes.  Why  is 
not  one  ash  as  good  as  another?  Thus 
people  see  great  piles  of  the  coal  ashes 
and  think  they  have  a  potash  mine  right 
at  home.  Some  sharpers  will  actually 
make  some  money  selling  coal  ashes  to 
farmers  who  do  not  realize  that  ashes 
are  not  all  alike.  No  man  iu  his  right 
mind  would  pay  as  much  for  skimmed 
milk  as  for  whole  milk  because  he  knows 
that  the  cream  or  fat  has  all  been  taken 
out  in  the  skimming.  Now  in  like  man¬ 
ner  coal  ashes  are  like  skimmed  ashes, 
because  Nature  has  taken  out  the  plant 
food  from  coal.  The  generally  accepted 
theory  is  that  our  coal  beds  are  de¬ 
rived  from  immense  swamps  of  pent  and 
such  plants  as  grow  in  wet  places.  As  is 
now  known,  our  present  swamps  of  peat 
and  muck  are  very  low  in  both  potash  and 
phosphoric  acid,  and  the  long  ages  re¬ 
quired  to  turn  these  swamps  iuto  coal 
through  heat  and  decay  and  pressure  dis¬ 
posed  of  about  all  the  plant  food  origin¬ 
ally  there.  Of  course,  the  nitrogen  would 
be  driven  away  through  the  burning.  So 
the  coal  ashes  have  but  little  more  actual 
plant  food  than  fine  road  dust,  except 
as  wood  is  burned  with  the  coal. 
Other  Uses. — Id  these  days,  when 
every  ounce  of  plant  food  should  be  saved, 
the  coal  ashes  should  be  used  on  the  soil. 
I  have  seen  fanners  take  ashes  from  the 
kitchen  stove  where  both  coal  and  wood 
were  burned,  and  use  them  for  making 
walks  about  the  house  and  barn.  They 
make  a  soft  and  nasty  walk  anyway, 
while  the  wood  ashes  which  they  contain 
carry  quite  a  little  potash.  It  will  pay  to 
keep  the  coal  ashes  under  shelter.  I 
would  not  put  them  in  the  barn  or  shed, 
as  they  often  contain  live  coals  which 
might  set  things  on  fire.  By  putting  slops 
from  the  house  or  other  wastes  over  the 
coal  ashes — mixing  the  solids  in — we 
have  what  is  called  a  plant-food  "carrier'’ 
which  can  be  spread  in  the  Spring,  and 
used  as  a  fertilizer.  We  find  good  use  for 
the  coal  ashes  scattered  close  around  trees 
or  fruit  bushes.  This  year,  every  scrap 
of  matter  which  contains  plant  food  or 
which  can  carry  it  ought  to  be  used. 
A  W:ceu  Growth. — Our  friend  speaks 
of  a  heavy  growth  of  witch  grass  that 
starts  out  from  the  coal  ash  piles.  I 
have  noticed  weeds  growing  on  or  near 
our  own  ash  piles,  and  I  have  wondered 
whether  we  may  not  some  day  learn 
things  worth  while  from  this.  I  have 
seen  a  pile  of  coal  and  wood  ashes  with 
some  sand  mixed  into  it  change  itself  into 
very  fair  soil.  At  first  there  came  a  thin 
growth  of  weeds  and  coarse  grass — the 
seeds  apparently  blown  onto  the  pile. 
This  grew  and  finally  died — adding  a  lit¬ 
tle  organic  matter  to  the  pile.  Then 
came  more  grass  and  weeds,  thicker  and 
thicker,  while  leaves  blew  in  and  found 
lodgment.  At  last  I  found  clover  grow¬ 
ing  on  that  ash  pile  and.  on  digging  into 
it  we  found  dark-colored  soil  with  the 
ashes  filled  with  plant  roots  and  decayed 
vines.  Those  weeds  and  tough  grasses 
had  changed  the  entire  character  of  that 
ash  heap  without  any  help  from  man. 
Now  I  think  we  are  to  find  in  the  future 
that  some  of  the  despised  weeds  have 
great  powers  as  miners — that  is,  they 
can  get  plant  food  out  of  hard  places  and 
tough  substances  which  baffle  our  so- 
called  “farm  crops."  I  think  we  are  to 
put  some  of  these  weeds  at  work  for  us 
during  the  next  few  years — keeping  them 
from  seeding,  but  making  use  of  their 
ability  to  live  under  hard  conditions. 
Land  Blaster. — Not  long  ago  we  had 
an  article  on  hen  manure  and  methods  of 
preserving  it.  This  seems  to  have  inter¬ 
ested  many  readers,  and  they  came  back 
for  more.  We  advised  the  use  of  hind 
plaster  or  gypsum  for  drying  the  ma¬ 
nure.  and  now  we  have  a  friend  asking 
why. 
Blouse  let  the  agricultural  chemist  <>f 
The  It.  N.-Y.  stall'  enlighten  us  on  the 
chemical  composition  <>f  land  plaster; 
and  hence  what  ingredients,  in  itself,  it. 
adds  to  tile  hen  manure  and  what  physi¬ 
cal  effect,  if  known,  it  has  when  com¬ 
mingled  with  the  manure. 
While  I  am  m>t  an  agricultural  chem¬ 
ist  I  will  try  to  explain.  Land  plaster  is 
a  sulphate  of  lime.  It  tints  adds  two 
elements  of  plant  food — lime  and  sulphur 
— hut  it  is  not  recommended  as  a  fertil¬ 
izer,  since  you  can  buy  both  lime  and  sul¬ 
phur  cheaper  in  other  forms.  It  was 
suggested  for  use  on  manure  for  two  chief 
reasons.  It  is  a  good  drier.  When 
dusted  frequently  over  the  manure  it  ab¬ 
sorbs  water  freely  and  keeps  the  manure 
hard  and  dry.  With  us  it  is  better  for 
that  purpose  than  coal  ashes,  road  dust 
or  other  similar  things.  The  first  object 
in  saving  the  manure  is  to  dry  it  if  pos¬ 
sible  so  that  it  can  be  crushed  fine.  The 
land  plaster  also  has  a  good  Chemical 
effect  upon  the  manure.  The  ammonia  as 
found  in  the  manure  is  in  the  form  of  a 
carbonate,  and  will  pass  away  as  a  gas,  if 
the  manure  is  left  moist  and  warm.  Wh?n 
the  land  plaster  is  mixed  with  it  the  lime 
and  the  ammonia  change  partners  in  the 
great  dance  of  life.  We  then  have  car- 
inmate  of  lime  and  sulphate  of  ammonia, 
which  is  a  solid  and  stable  form.  It  is 
as  if  Miss  Ammonia,  not  satisfied  with 
her  partner.  Mr.  Carbonate,  is  about  Eq 
run  away  when  along  comes  Mr.  Sulphate 
— very  much  more  to  her  liking.  She 
effects  a  fair  exchange  with  Miss  Lime 
and  decides  to  settle  down  and  remain  at 
home.  If  a  farmer  wants  to  add  plant 
food  to  the  manure  he  might  use  acid 
phosphate.  It  will  not  dry  the  manure 
so  well,  but  the  chemical  action  will  he 
strong. 
Black  Soil.  If  any  one  has  a  swamp 
or  low  place  where  black  soil  or  muck 
accumulates,  it  will  pay  him  to  haul  it 
out  this  Winter.  Fertilizers  of  all  sorts 
will  be  high  and  anything  you  Can  save 
at  home  will  be  clear  gain.  The  muck  or 
black  soil  does  not  contain  much  potash 
or  phosphoric  acid,  but  it  is  often  rich 
in  nitrogen.  Some  of  these  soils  contain 
as  much  nitrogen  as  stable  manure,  but 
it  is  not  available,  being  usually  sour  aud 
tough.  If  you  use  it  at  all  lime  should 
go  with  it,  or  else  the  muck  should  be 
mixed  in  with  the  manure  pile.  I  would 
like  to  haul  100  loads  or  more  out  of 
our  swamp  and  low  places  in  the  woods 
and  scatter  200  pounds  or  more  around 
each  apple  tree.  The  ground  is  now 
frozen  too  hard  to  permit  us  to  do  this, 
but  this  application  of  muck,  with  lime 
scattered  over  it,  would  surely  help  the 
orchard  at  low  cost.  Of  course,  the  best 
use  for  this  muck  is  to  put  it  iu  piles  well 
mixed  with  lime  and  manure  so  that  ;t 
will  ferment  and  break  up.  This  would 
be  a  good  place  for  some  of  the  hen  ma¬ 
nure.  We  use  the  land  plaster  or  other 
chemicals  to  try  to  prevent  fermentation, 
but  iu  the  pile  of  muck  ferment  is  just 
what  we  are  after,  and  the  very. fact  that 
the  hen  manure  ferments  rapidly  and 
strongly  would  give  it  value  for  the  muck. 
In  our  country,  however,  the  present 
weather  is  such  that  we  are  not  likely 
to  get  out  much  muck.  H.  av.  c. 
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How  deep  would  you  plant  and  how  many  kernels  in  each  hill? 
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How  much  fertilizer  would  you  use  and  how  would  you  apply  it? 
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100  WILLIAM  STREET  NEW  YORK  4 
