Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 132, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 June 1916 — ASHES AS FERTILIZER [ARTICLE]

ASHES AS FERTILIZER

Contain Potaah and Phosphoric Add— Should be Kept Dry and Not Pei* mitted to Leach. The farmer who burns wood foi heating and cooking Bhould carefully ■tore the ashes and .not permit them to leach, as they have a peculiar fertilizing value. They not only contain potash and phosphoric acid in appreciable amounts but also contain magnesia and lime, and when applied to the land they also act indirectly to increase the available nitrogen content of organic matter in the soil. Ordinary house ashes contain on the ayerage about 8 or 9 per cent of potash and two per cent of phosphoric acid. Investigators have considered that there is enough potash and phosphoric acid in a bushel of ashes to make it worth 20 or 25 cents. Besides that, some 10 or 15 cents additional* might be allowed for the alkali powder of the ashes. This power is that which enables ashes to rot weeds and to ferment peat. The potash content of ashes will be lost if thfty are permitted to leach, and care should be taken to store them in a dry place. Wood ashes may be profitably applied as a top dressing to grass land and to pastures, where they will encourage the growth of clover and the better kinds of grasses, which .will then crowd out inferior kinds and weeds. Wood ashes also may be used for corn and roots. Because of their lime content they are not so good for potatoes, although sometime* used for this crop. Ashes from hardwoods (deciduous trees) are richer in both phosphorus and potash than those from pines and other softwoods (conifers). The ashes of twigs (faggots, for example) a;e worth more for agricultural purposes than the ashes of heartwood taken from the middle of an old tree. In general, the smaller and younger the wood burned the better ashes. The ashes of coal do not contain enough potash to make them valuable in this connection.

The hulls of cotton seed according to specialists, yield ashes which contain from 18 to 30 per cent of potash and from 5 to 10 per cent of phosphoric acid. Cotton hull ashes therefore as a fertilizer are much more concentrated thkn ordinary'►wood ashes. A* a matter r>f fact, in the opinion of some investigators, the ashes from cottonseed hulls contain such a large proportion of potash that they might do considerable harm to certain crops if they were used in large quantities. These ashes have been used with advantage for manuring tobacco, and have in times past brought as much as $35 to S4O a ton in New England. One objection to their use is that they vary widely In composition. At tha present time, however, the hulls are used for feed to such an extent that it is difficult to secure their ashes for fertilizing purposes.