BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 387 
VII. A sample of ashes from the husk of cotton seed, obtained in the 
spring of 1872 from W. H. Chessman, dealer in potashes, of Boston. 
The ashes in question had been brought from the South, as an experi- 
ment. They were said to have come from a manufactory where the husks 
of cotton seed were used as fuel under a steam boiler. It was believed 
that in case there were a demand for such ashes they could be procured 
cheaply enough to admit of their being sold at that time in Boston for 
$25 per ton. Analyses of two separate portions of the sample gave 
the following results : — 
A. B. 
Phosphoricacid . . . . . . . »- «. « 9.10% 9.97 
omen). . -_..o— 14.11 
Sand and charcoal Sdakieh ia 4 in eueas er ee ed. 15.63 
In a lye obtained by leaching these ashes with water there was found 
as much alkali as would amount to 12.29% of the ashes, on the assump- 
tion that the whole of the alkali was in the form of pure dry carbonate 
of potash. 
Such ashes would be worth more than $25 per ton in Boston at the 
present time, even if the worth of the phosphoric acid be estimated as 
low as six cents per pound, and no account be taken of the “alkali- 
power.” But in estimating the value of ashes it is unfair to rely solely 
upon the amounts of potash and phosphoric acid that are contained in 
them, for the alkalinity of the ashes is an important consideration even 
from the farmer’s point of view. The fact that wood-ashes can act as an 
alkali, that is to say can bring to pass certain chemical changes and de- 
compositions such as the alkalies produce, but which neutral potash salts, 
like the sulphate and the muriate, taken by themselves, cannot effect, 
is a power which the farmer should neither lose sight of nor neglect. 
It has long been known that wood-ashes are particularly well adapted 
for composting peat and other organic matters, and there can be no 
question that the efficiency of the ashes in this regard depends upon 
their alkalinity, especially since Angus Smith * has shown that if a soil 
rich in organic matter be made alkaline, as well as moist and warm, 
putrefactive decomposition may shortly set in. When a certain pro- 
portion fT of wood-ashes, or of lye obtained by leaching wood-ashes, or 
* Johnson’s “ How Crops Feed,” New York, 1870, p. 266. 
t One common rule among practical men is 12 bushels of ashes to 100 
bushels of peat. 
For the action of alkalies upon peat and loam, see forties pages 280, 281 of 
this Bulletin. 
