and loose. 
Hare 
i 
332 
larch from 8 to 10 lbs., a large birch from 11 to 
14 lbs., and a willow from 9 to 11 Ibs. 
Every kind of bark may be proved, by analysis 
of its ashes, to contain a large proportion of the 
peculiar inorganic substances which operate as 
fertilizers of the soil. According to analysis by 
M. Saussure, the ashes of oak-bark contain 7 per 
cent. of soluble salts, 3 of earthy phosphates, 66 
of earthy carbonates, 14 of silica, and 2 of me- 
tallic oxides ; the ashes of hazel-bark contain 124 
per cent. of soluble salts, 55 of earthy phosphates, 
*54 of earthy carbonates, ¢ of silica, and 13 of 
metallic oxides ; the ashes of poplar-bark contain 
6 per cent. of soluble salts, 5:3 of earthy phos- 
phates. 60 of earthy carbonates, 4 of silica, and 
14 of metallic oxides; the ashes of mulberry- 
bark contain 7 per cent. of soluble salts, 84 of 
earthy phosphates, 45 of earthy carbonates, 153 
of silica, and 11 of metallic oxides; and the ashes 
of hornbeam-bark conta n 44 per cent. of soluble 
salts, 44 of earthy phosphates, 59 of earthy car- 
bonates, 14 of silica, and $ of metallic oxides. 
According to an analysis recorded by Liebig, 
the ashes of fir-bark contain 2:95 per cent. of 
soluble salts, and 97°05 of insoluble salts,—the 
latter consisting of 64:98 of carbonate of lime, 
0°93 of magnesia, 5:03 of phosphate of lime, 4°18 
of phosphate of magnesia, 1:04 of peroxide of 
iron, 2°42 of alumina, 17°28 of silica, and 1°79 of 
loss. A mere glance at these analyses will con- 
vince an intelligent farmer of the value of bark 
as a manure, and show him that, whenever he 
can obtain it, he ought not to be deterred from 
using it by the slowness of its decomposition. 
Refuse tanners’-bark, in particular, is, in many 
places, easily obtainable, and ought to be con- 
siderably appreciated ; for though it injuriously 
differs from pure bark in the loss of its soluble 
salts, it also beneficially differs in the acquisition 
of nitrogenous animal matter; and it may be 
very advantageously employed either as an in- 
gredient in farm-yard compost, as a top-dressing 
on some grass lands, or as a simple manure pre- 
parable for use by either rotting or incineration. 
“The bark of trees, in general, and especially 
that of oak,” says Mr. Mills, “contains a very rich 
salt, extremely useful in vegetation. One load of 
oak-bark, laid in a heap and rotted after the tan- 
ners have used it for dressing of leather, will do 
more service to stiff cold land, and its effects will 
last longer, than two loads of the richest dung. 
Mr. Miller is right in thinking it better for cold 
strong land, than for light hot ground, if it be 
used alone as taken from the tan-yard, because 
it is of a warm nature, and will loosen and se- 
parate the earth so effectually, that by using it 
only three or four times, a strong soil, not easy 
to be wrought, will be rendered perfectly light 
But by mixing it with earth of a 
nature contrary to that which it is intended to 
correct, and in proportion suited to the nature 
of the soil it is to be laid on, it will prove a fine 
a NN —_ 
SSS ll 
as will greatly fertilize the ground. It will even 
alter the very nature of the soil, and turn it into 
arich black mould. It necessarily abounds in 
vegetable parts, derived from the tree to which 
it once belonged, and cannot but be strongly im- 
pregnated with animal juices, as it lies a long 
time in the tan vats, with the skins and hides of 
animals, — circumstances which must make it 
singularly beneficial to all poor lands. If laid on 
grass, it should be spread soon after Michaelmas, 
that the winter rains may wash it into the 
ground ; for if it be laid on in the spring, it will 
be apt to burn the grass, and, instead of improv- 
ing it, will thereby do it much injury for that 
season. When used for corn land, it should be 
spread before the last ploughing, that it may be 
turned down for the fibres of the corn to reach it 
in the spring ; for if it lies too near the surface, 
it will forward the growth of the corn in winter ; 
and in the spring, when the nourishment is chiefly 
wanted to encourage the stems, it will be nearly 
consumed, and the corn will receive but little 
advantage from it. Mr. Bradley advised a gen- 
tleman, to whom a considerable quantity of bark 
was left upon the expiration of the lease of a tan- 
yard, to lay some of it upon a piece of stubborn 
sour land ; which he did with such success that 
his product was admired by all the gardeners 
and farmers in the neighbourhood. For such 
ground, he thinks it should be mixed with a 
sandy soil, and that one-third of bark to two- 
thirds of sand will be very sufficient proportion 
for clays, laying on about 160 cart-loads upon an 
acre. All barks or rinds of trees, though not of 
so high a value as that of oak, must of necessity 
enrich either corn or pasture ground, if broken 
into small pieces and laid upon it. They must 
needs be much richer than the mould or earth 
usually found in the bodies of old, large, hollow 
willow-trees, putrified within ; though this is 
justly esteemed very efficacious.” 
The barks of many trees are used for not a few 
purposes in manufactures, economics, and medi- 
cine. The bark of the cork-tree yields the im- 
portant and universally known cork of commerce. 
See Cork. The bark of the Quercus nigra or 
Quercus tinctorta, is extensively imported from 
North America, and used in dyeing, under the 
name of quercitron-bark. The bark of various 
species of the poplar and the willow has often 
been successfully employed as a febrifuge in in- 
termittent fever. The bark of the Cinchona-trees 
of South America has long been favourably 
known in materia medica, under the name of 
Jesuit’s bark and Peruvian bark, and now fur- 
nishes the quinine and the cinchonina of modern 
medicine and chemistry. The bark of the wil- 
low, the lime-tree, and the cocoa-nut-tree is so 
tough and fibrous as to have been manufactured 
into ropes and other kinds of cordage. The bark 
of the lime-tree, the bread-fruit-tree, and the 
paper-muilberry-tree, is torn into slips, and man- 
manure for almost any land, its salts being such | ufactured into mats. The bark of the bread-fruit- 
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