Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/142

ASHE. of smallpox, October 24. Asheville, N. C, was named in his honor.

ASH'ER (Heb., blessed). The name given by biblical tradition (Gen. xxxv. 26) to the eighth son of Jacob, being the second born to him by his concubine Zilpah, the handmaid of Leah. Asher is thus merely the customary eponymous heir of the tribe of Asher, which formed part of the confederation known as the B'ne Israel. The genealogy of Asher, indicating merely the sub- divisions of the clan, is furnished (Gen. xlvi. 17, and Num. xxvi. 44; cf. I. Chron. vii. 30). But little is known of the clan, which plays scarcely any part in Hebrew history. Asher takes no part in the uprising against Sisera (Judges v. 17), while the statement (Judges vi. 35 and vii. 23) that Asher took part in the conflict with Midian is open to question. The position of the tribe is also difficult to ascei'tain. since but few of the places mentioned (Josh. xix. 24-31) as belonging to Asher have been identified. There are indications that the tribe was originally set- tled in southern Palestine, where it became mixed with non-Hebrew clans, and subsequently moved nortliward toward the seacoast, though neither Accho, Acbzib, nor Sidon (mentioned .Tosh. xix. as cities of Asher) could ever have belonged to it. The popular etymology as 'happy' (Gen. x.'cx. 13) may furnish the real meaning, and it is also possible that Asher may have originally been the name of a deity. In that case it would be an etymological parallel to the Assyrian deity, Asher. A district or State of Asern in western Galilee is mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions of the time of Seti and Rameses II., but it is hardly likely that we have here anything more than a phonetic coincidence with Asher.

ASH'ERA. ( 1 ) A wooden post used in wor- ship at the sanctuaries of Palestine in ancient times. It wa.s employed not finly by the Canaan- ites, but also by the Israelites at Samaria, Bethel, and Jerusalem (II. Kings xxiii. 6), in connection with the worship of Yahweh. It probably had phallic shape, represented a god or goddess of fertility, and stood at the boundary of a field and especially a sacred inclosure. In Assyrian. Ash- irtu also has the meaning of "sacred precincts,' and this is its manifest sense in the Phivnician Masud inscription, lliere was a strong pro- phetic opposition to this cultus-object, and many afheras were hewed down by Josiah after B.C. 621. ( 2 ) Ashera was also the name of a goddess. With the conquest of Syria the worship of Aniurru and his consort, Ashratu, found its way into Babylonia in the time of Hammurabi. An Ab- dashirta, 'servant of Ashera,' flourished in Syria in the days of Amenhotep 111. (B.C. 1439-03). Katabanian inscriptions show that this goddess was worshiped in Soutli Arabia. Athirat is the consort of Wadd, the god of love. It is natural to infer that there was some connection between the goddess Ashera and the sacred pole.

ASH'ES. The substance of all plants and animals contains as an indispensable ingredient a certain amount of mineral matter which re- mains behind as ash when the organic portion of the substance is burned. The covering of the head with ashes has long been accepted as a sign of mourning among Eastern nations, and in- stances of this are found in Scripture. Penitents in the early Christian Church signified their sor- row and humiliation in a similar manner, by standing at the door of a church in 'sackcloth and ashes.'

According to Warington, the proportion of ash varies from 0.2 to 0.4 per cent, in the dry mat- ter of the wood of trees, from 2 to 5 per cent. in seeds, from 4 to 7 per cent, in the straw of cereals, from 4 to 8 per cent, in roots and tubers, from 5 to 9 per cent, in hay, and from 10 to 25 per cent, in leaves of root crops.

Uses. The ashes of sea-plants are a common source of bromine and iodine, and the ashes of animal bodies form a source of phosphorus. But the commercial value of ashes depends mainly on their use: (1) as a source of alkali (pearl-ash, potashes, etc.), and (2) as a fertilizer. The fer- tilizing value of ashes is due to the fact that they contain all of the mineral constituents re- quired by plants, especially potash, and that largely in one of the most desirable forms — viz., as potassium carbonate. The following three classes of ashes are the most important for agricultural purposes: (I) Wood ashes from household fires, firnaees, etc.; (2) cotton-hull ashes, resulting from the uses of cotton hulls as fuel under boilers, etc., in the cotton-growing regions; and (3) lime-kiln ashes, which are a mixture of more or less lime with the ashes of the fuel used in the kilns.

Wood Ashes. Wood ashes were formerly the almost exclusive source of potash for fertilizing purposes. They have, however, been very largely replaced by the German potash salts. At the present time the supply of wood ashes is limited on account of the general substitution of coal for wood as fuel. Canada is the main com- mercial source of supply in America. The ashes are collected from house to house and stored in structures built for their reception (asheries). When first collected they are said to weigh from 34 to 40 pounds per bushel ; but when stored they undergo a heating and sweating process which disintegrates the particles of charcoal and causes the ashes to shrink aliout one-fifth in bvilk, the weight per bushel increasing from 40 to 48 pounds. Dealers estimate that it requires about 30 cords of hardwood to make one ton of ashes. The composition of wood ashes varies with the kind of wood, the intensity of the fire, the pro- portion of impurities and unburned material (charcoal), and the care in storage. The hard woods yield ashes richer in potash than those of the soft woods. In intense fires, some potash is lost by volatilization. Pure ashes carefully prepared from hard woods have been found to contain more than 17 per cent, of potash; those from soft woods almost 10 per cent., besides about 2 per cent, of phosphoric acid. No such ashes are found on the market. In several hundred analyses of samples of commercial, unleached ashes, there was found, on an average, about 5 per cent, of potash, 1.5 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and 30-35 per cent, of lime. This inferiority of the commercial product may result from im- avoidable causes, or it may be partly due to adulteration with leached ashes, coal ashes, soil, etc. In any case, the great variability of the product emphasizes the importance of purchasing ashes only on a guaranty of composition. Although the value of ashes as a fertilizer depends primarily upon the potash they contain, and although they may be expected to give the best results on soils and crops especially demanding potash, still their fertilizing action is not en-