XVI.Pot-ash.Pearl-ash.
| a tree of |
1½f. diameter will yield |
1. cord of wood. |
|
2½f. diam. |
2. cords |
| an acre |
of midling timbered land will yield |
30. cord of wood |
|
of the heaviest timbered |
100. cord. |
a man will cut and burn 2½ cords a day.
a cord of wood yields 2. bushels of ashes. [neither pine nor chesnut will do.]
a bushel of ashes sells for 9. cents
| a bushel of ashes makes |
6.℔ of brown salts, which make from 3. to 5℔ Pearl ash in ye common way. |
|
5.℔ of Pearl-ash in Hopkins’s way. |
there should be 15. or 16. tubs of 100. bushels each
| for a small work, | 2 kettles suffice |
to boil the lie into brown salts |
| and | 1. |
to melt up the brown salts. |
¼ cord of wood a day maintains one fire, which will do for 5. kettles.
to keep 3. kettles a-going will require a man & boy to attend.
3. kettles will turn out 1000.℔ of Pearl ash a week.
consequently require 100. cords of wood a week & 7. cutters to keep them constantly at work.
each kettle costs 24. Dollars
| D. | ||
| Pot-ash is worth in England | the ton, & in America | 114⅔ = .057 pr ℔ |
| Pearl ash is worth in England £40. sterl. | the ton, & in America | 133⅓D. 066. pr ℔ |
| or £40. lawful. |
An estimate of the expence and profit of such a work @ 3.℔ pearl ash to the bush. ashes, which would be 100.℔ of Pearlash a day.
| £ | s | d | ||
|
7. cutters, hired @ £12. a year, adding all other expences. |
128– | 16 | –0 | |
| a manager, hire & provisions | 50– | 0 | –0 | |
| a boy | 10– | 0 | –0 | |
| implements annually | 10– | 0 | –0 | |
|
a waggon & team & driver, all expences calculated |
111– | 15 | –0 | |
|
@ 3.℔ of pearlash from the bushel, instead of 5℔, and @ 5. days to |
520–0–0 | |||
|
clearing 150. acres of land a year, worth to the acre ? |
© 2025 Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Getting Word: African American History at Monticello supported by The Mellon Foundation