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.