BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 193 
and sold and applied to land, but to an ideal product obtained by sub- 
tracting from the ashes really examined certain of their so-called acci- 
dental or yariable constituents ; namely, carbonic acid, sand, charcoal, 
and oxide of iron. Since these constituents usually amount to as much 
as a quarter or even a third part of the entire weight of fine sifted ashes, 
an allowance,must be made for them upon the figures given by Wolff. 
For ordinary ashes (obtained from wood), a rough approximation to the 
truth may be made by taking ;75, (or better, 37) of the figures in Wolff’s 
‘table; or a more accurate calculation may be made by taking as the 
denominator of the above fraction the difference between 100 and the 
amount of ‘‘ carbonic acid, sand, and charcoal’? that has been actually 
found by analysts of the ashes of the particular kind of wood, bark, 
leaf, or fruit that happens to be in question, as given in the table on 
TABLE OF ANALYTIC RESULTS. 
‘ 
In 100 parts by weight of the ashes, there were found parts of 
No. of 
the Specimen. Real Potash. Carbonic Acid. Sand: Phosphoric Acid. 
K20. COz. O 
and Charcoal. 
* 
3.16 
8.13 
3.87 
- 2.99 
1.62 
1.56 
1.40 
. 1.65 
2.49 
1.55 
. 2.04 
petkedG 
. 2.80 
. 2.20 
. 0,68 
0.48 
0.41 
8.75 
4.58 
- 2.27 
* The comparatively large amount of phosphoric acid found in the samples marked 
with an asterisk is fully explained by the fact that the barrels of ashes from which these 
samples were taken contained numerous pieces of burnt bone. Since these bits of bone 
were very friable, small fragments of them undoubtedly passed through the sieve into the 
fine ashes taken for analysis. It is no matter for surprise that bones should thus be found 
in ashes that had been collected from house to house, like these that were obtained from 
the soapboiler; for, as is well known, in many families the stove or fire-place is the re- 
ceptacle of all kinds of rubbish, especially that which is in the least degree combustible. 
Ashes thus charged with bone earth would, of course, be more valuable for some soils than 
those to which no bones have been added. The bones can readily be detected by throw- 
ing a few handfuls of the ashes upon a not too coarse sieve. 
Vor. 1. 25 
* 
