This can hardly be called an essential constituent of plants, and is never taken into consideration in manuring lands.
VARIOUS OTHER MINERAL MANURES.
LEACHED ASHES.
Why are leached ashes inferior to those that have not been leached?
On what do the benefits of leached ashes depend?
Can these ingredients be more cheaply obtained in another form?
Why do unleached ashes, applied in the spring, sometimes cause grain to lodge?
Among the mineral manures which have not yet been mentioned—not coming strictly under any of the preceding heads, is the one known as leached ashes.
These are not without their benefits, though worth much less than unleached ashes, which, besides the constituents of those which have been leached, contain much potash, soda, etc.
Farmers have generally overrated the value of leached ashes, because they contain small quantities of available phosphate of lime, and soluble silicates, in which most old soils are deficient. While we witness the good results ensuing from their application, we should not forget that the fertilizing ingredients of thirty bushels of these ashes may be bought in a more convenient form for ten or fifteen cents, or for less than the cost of spreading the ashes on the soil. In many parts of Long Island farmers pay as much as eight or ten cents per bushel for this manure, and thousands of loads of leached ashes are taken to this locality from the river counties of New York, and even from the State of Maine, and are sold for many times their value, producing an effect which could be as well and much more cheaply obtained by the use of small quantities of super-phosphate of lime and potash.