Manufacture of Potash

Feilding Star, Volume VIII, Issue 66, 4 December 1886, Page 2

Manufacture of Potash

We hare frequently drawn attention ( to the enormous waste of valuable material, which has gone on here year ] after year by the wasteful destruction ] by fire of the forest trees as the land \ is cleared, and in connection therewith ] we publish the following extraot from « an American paper re-printed by the 1 Taranaki Budget. It is to the effect i

that in the backwoods of America men were paying for the expense of felling their bush and logging up the land by converting the rubbish into potash. A hole is dug some 30 feet by 20 and 4to 6 feet deep. Into this logs are dragged, care being taken to have the driest at the bottom; afterburning, the ashes are collected and put into a cask, into which water is poured and allowed to stand for a time ; it is then drained off. The potash readily sells from 4d to 6d per pound, being used for soap, lye, and also manure, besides in the printing process. This process is so very simple that we have no doubt it will be tried by many of 'the new settlers, who are almost daily making their homes in the bush. They need have no fear of a market, as every ounce of the potash would be readily disposed of in Wellington.