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Ashes

Categories: APPLYING LIME

Hard-wood ashes have ceased to have much importance as a source

of lime for land, but their use is held in high esteem even by those

who regard fertilizers as mere stimulants and doubt the efficiency of

lime. Hard-wood ashes, unleached, clean and dry, are valuable for acid

soils. Their content of potash, which is variable and averages about 4

per cent, formerly was given all the credit for the soil improvement

and incr
ased clover growth that resulted from their use. Tests with

other carriers of potash have shown that the potash probably produced

only a small part of the effect noted, and the benefit is attributable

to the lime in the ashes which exists in an effective form. The content

of lime is variable, and largely so on account of the percentage of

moisture and dirt that may be found in most ashes, and when no analysis

has been made, the estimate of value should not be based on more than

30 to 40 per cent of carbonate of lime. The price of ashes runs so

high, as a result of prejudice in favor of this well-known kind of soil

amendment, that it rarely is advisable to buy them. Pure lime is a

cheaper means of correcting the soil acidity, and the sulphate or the

muriate of potash is by far the cheaper source of potash.



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