POTASH-MAKING IN ESSEX : A LOST RURAL INDUSTRY. 123
of the Royal Agricultural Society of England," Vol. viii., Part I. :
Vol. ix., Part I,; and Vol. xi., Part II.
Putting the matter shortly and avoiding technicalities, which
would not interest the general reader, it will be found that the ashes
of the various plants mentioned contain from 12 to 41 parts of
potash in 100, some of the grasses (as Poa annua) being especially
rich in this principle."
It would appear also from these papers that it mattered little on
what soil the plants were grown, the quantity of Potash in the ash
remained very nearly the same whether the soil was sandy or clayey.
We must not therefore, I think, conclude, because we find so many
"Potashes" in this county on Boulder-Clay, that they were established
there from an idea that the vegetation was rich in alkali ; the
probability is, more are found on this and other heavy clays
because the larger area of the county is of this character.
Another cause of the decline of the industry was the importation
of a cheaper article from America. At the time our supply of wood
ceased, there was an enormous area of woodland cleared in America,
and potash began to be made there very cheaply from the great
quantity of ashes produced by burning the branches and stems of
the felled trees.
It is from America, Germany, and Russia, and other parts of the
Continent, that we get our supply of Potash and Pearl-Ash—none
being now produced in Britain. If there is any truth in the following
report, given in the "Standard" of September 11th, 1894, it would
seem that even American cheap ashes will in turn be driven out of
our markets by native potash from Brunswick : "Our Berlin cor-
respondent states that a stratum of potash, 73 metres (over 230 feet)
in thickness, has been discovered at a depth of 607 metres, in the
Duchy of Brunswick. This valuable find belongs to the State."
The last and most important, because the most powerful, agent in
causing the decay of Potash-making in this country, was the discovery
of the possibility of making Soda from common Salt ; and that this
was so, will appear from some of my informants' statements that
"there was no soda then." Potash was used for washing linen, for
3 Mr. John Spiller. F.C.S., whom I have again to thank for his kind assistance, has called my
attention to William Nicholson's "Dictionary of Chemistry" (1795), where, under the heading
''Potash," there are two and a-half pages descriptive of this manufacture in Ireland. And it is
shown, "that in general weeds yield more ashes, and their ashes much more salt, than woods ; and
that, consequently, as to salts of the vegetable alkali kind, as pot-ash, pearl-ash, cashup, etc.,
neither America, Trieste, nor the northern countries have any advantage over us (Ireland)." This
seems confirmatory of the analyses of Messrs. Way and Ogston, as recorded in the "Journal of
the Royal Agricultural Society," quoted above.