COMMERCIAL POTASH OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 29 
the results of my investigations. These reports were pub- 
lished among the documents of the legislature, but as their 
circulation was necessarily limited, I have thought that a sum- 
mary of the facts which they contain, might be, with advan- 
tage, more widely diffused. I have accordingly prepared the 
following paper, which you will oblige me by publishing in 
your valuable Journal. 
Various methods of Manufacturing Potash, pursued in 
the State of New York. 
The most plausible view of the formation of the carbonate 
of potash, (the form in which commercial potash occurs,) by 
the incineration of wood, is that the acetate of potash exists in 
the wood, and that this, by calcination, is converted into the 
carbonate. The wood is burned upon the earth, in a situation 
protected from the wind, the result of which is the formation 
of carbonate of potash and several other soluble salts, together 
with some substances upon which water has no action. By 
lixiviation with hot or cold water the soluble part is dissolved 
out, and this solution, when boiled to dryness, leaves behind 
a dark brown saline mass, consisting of carbonate of potash, a 
minute portion of one or two other salts and a small quantity 
of vegetable inflammable matter; and in this state it is known 
in commerce by the name of Potash. Calcination, at a mo- 
derate heat, completely burns off the colouring particles, and 
the salt becomes of a spongy texture, and beautiful blueish 
white tinge; it is then called Pearlash. 
Such are the simple principles upon which these important 
articles are prepared. But instead of following them, various 
substances are frequently added, either previous to, or during 
the boiling, ostensibly for the sole purpose of facilitating the 
manufacture, but which really have the effect of increasing 
the weight of the resulting mass at the expense of its purity. 
To show what absurd notions were entertained on this sub- 
ject, and the necessity which existed for legislative interfe- 
rence, I will here introduce the specifications of a patent 
obtained in February, 1831, by an inhabitant of Oswego 
