ASH

grow. For when plants are raised in good land, andafterwards planted into worse, they very rarely thrive ;so that it is much the better method to make the nurseryupon a part of the same land, where the trees are de-signed to be planted, and then a sufficient number of thetrees may be left standing upon the ground, and theseWill outstrip those which arc removed, and grow to alarger size.

Where people live in the neighbourhood of afh-trees,they may supply themselves with plenty of self-sownplants, provided cattle are not suffered to graze on theland ; for if cattle can come at them, they will eat off theyoung plants, and not suffer them to grow ; but wherethe feeds fall in hedges, and are protected by bushes,the plants will come up and thrive: in these hedges thetrees are frequently permitted to grow till they have de-stroyed the hedge, for there is scarce any tree so hurtfulto all kinds of vegetables as the ash, which robs everyplant of its nourishment within the reach of its roots,and should therefore never be suffered to grow in hedge-rows; for they not only kill the hedge, but impoverishcorn, or whatever is sown near them. Nor should anyash-trees be permitted to grow near pasture grounds, fortf any of the cows eat of the leaves or shoots of the ash,all the butter that is made of their milk will be rank,an of little or no value. In all good dairy countriestherefore they never suffer any afh-trees to grow.

If the wood of these trees be rightly managed, it willturn greatly to the advantage of its owner; for by theunderwood, which will be fit to cut every eight or tenyears, there will be a continual income more than suffi-cient to pay the rent of the ground, and all other charges;and still there will be a stock preserved for timber, which,n a few years, will be worth forty or fifty shillings per

re.

inacre.

This timber is of excellent use to the wheel-Wrightsand cart-wrights for ploughs, axle-trees, fellies of wheels,harrows, oars, blocks for pullies, and many other pur-poses.

The best season for felling these trees is from Novem-ber to February; for if it be done either too early in theautumn, or too early in the spring, the timber will besubject to be infested with worms, and other insects .but for lopping of pollards the spring is preferable for alsoft wood. Miller s Garcl, Li it.

ASHES, the earthy particles of combustible substancesremaining after they have been burnt.

If the ashes are produced from vegetables bodies, they

_ - r. j. ,1 • r r ^

ASH

improvement that is made by burning of fern, stubble,straw, heath, furze, sedge, bean-stalks, &c. Mortimer’s

Husbandry.

Coal Ashes from their calcarious quality, are singu-larly beneficial to stiff and four land, for which purposethey are successfully used in the neighbourhood of somegreat cities, where coal is burnt for fuel. They openclayey grounds, and correct their bad qualities. Thegardeners and farmers about London know their value,

^ and make a very profitable use of them, particularly tobring into order those grounds which have been dug forbrick-earth. After spreading these ashes up«n the claybottom, they either sow horse-beans, or set the earlySpanish, and sometimes the Windsor-bean in those spots;or else they lay such lands down with rye-grass, whichgenerally succeeds very well. Mr. Bradley blaming thepeople of Staffordshire, and the counties adjoining, wherethere are coal-pits, for not improving their heavy groundsaround those pits, by manuring them with coal-alhes,which might be easily burnt out of the waste-coals, fays,

“ that wherever there are plenty of coal-pits, there canbe no want of good profitable land.” Bradley's Hus-bandry.

Mr. Mortimer agrees entirely with Mr. Bradley,esteeming fea-coal ashes as the best manure of any forcold lands, the most lasting, and the fittest to kill worms.Their sharp and drying quality opens the pores of stifFfoils, and discharges a great deal of their viscous quality.Mr. Worlidge looks upon them as an excellent compostwhen mixed with horse-dung; he adds, that they are agreat curer of moss and rushes in most grounds. Wor-lidge’s Hujbandry.

Kiln Ashes, made of straw, furze, &c. are a goodmanure for almost any kind of soil. In the west ofEngland farmers sift them over their corn and grafs; butthis must not be done in windy weather, because theyare so very light that they would be easily blown away.They succeed best when laid on just before rain or snow.Mill’s Husbandry , vol. I.

Peat Ashes are likewise a very good manure.Mr. Miller is of opinion, that they are greatly bet-tered by being mixed with lime before they are laid on! the land.

Mr. Ellis has rightly observed, that there is a consi-derable difference between the ashes of lean peat, andthose produced by the fatter kind. If barley, savs he,be sown so late as the beginning of May, lean peat-asties in particular may be applied over it, or harrowed

it the ashes are produced from vegetables bodies, they ashes m paruemar may ue appucu uve, », « -

contain a considerable emamity of fixed salt, blended i in with the gram ; but ashes burnt from fat black; peat,

with the earthy particles, and from these particlesalcaline salts, called pot-ash, p*avl-ash, &c.tracted.

are

such as is dug at Newbury, are of so sulphureous a na-ture, that farmers are afraid to lay them on their barley ;nor do they dress their wheat with them till the spring isadvanced, and then they are sown over it.

The eaith of which this rich manure is made, is taken

Ashes of all sorts contain in them a very rich fertile fa t,

and are the best manure of any to lay upon cold lan's, ; - ■" ' ( , r ound, with a narrow wood scoop

especially if kept dry, and the rain tioth not wasti away ! rom . \tke a long brick. These pieces of

their salts. oL load of dry ashes will go as far as two which brmgs “ ^ § d t0 dry in the sum-

not kept so. But as rain water diminishes their salts, to ; . w hich they fell for eight shillings a waggon

the moistening them withchambcr-he, or soap-suds, wi j mer, " when thev are to be used for nia-

add greatly to their strength. Two load of these aslvs , load, tor sod.

will manure an acre of land better than fix load of louiethat are exposed to the rain, and that are not orderedso, which is the common allowance for an acre, thougrsome lands require more, and some less. That the ashesof any sort of vegetables are very advantageous to lane.,

" ’ ' by the

i load, for fuel. But when they are tonure, after being dried, they are burnt in heaps of ten,twenty, or thirty loads, laying on more peat upon theoutfides, as the sire increases within, to keep it from| having too muck vent

is what is experienced in most places of E

ingland,

The great use of these ashes was discovered aboutfifty years ago ; but they toon fell into disrepute, owingD a to

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