MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



267 



It is pretty well known that this section of the world is one of the great salt 

 cultures, and therefore experimenting has the great advantage here of being 

 (in this article) cheap. On lieavy clay land I have found little use in salt 

 dressing, but with an addition of unleached ashes, in quantity about fifty 

 bushels of aslies to ten of salt on each acre, I have taken a third more of a 

 root crop, and the quality of such roots is always superior. On light soils salt 

 alone has with me always proved beneficial ; but even here I have had the 

 largest returns where ashes were used in connection with salt. * * * 



In excessive drouth I have found a mixture of salt and ashes to act like a 

 charm, evidently keeping a living moisture near the surface, whereas, parts 

 where tl)e mixture was not used were dry as dust for several inches in depth. 



* * * Potatoes grown on salted land are always clean and free from 

 scab, and not so subject to dry rot, I think. I have had a half acre planted 

 ■with Scotch kidney potatoes, one-half of which was dressed heavy with salt and 

 ashes and the other half left without tlie mixture, and the result for several 

 years was that on the dressed half the potatoes were clean and the crop rather 

 a better average in maturity than on the other half on which the potatoes were, 

 as is usual with this variety, covered with scab. These are a few of the results 

 I have had on this "uncertain subject." * * * [Lahrax, Goderich, Ont. 

 (p. 791). 



EXPERIMENTS AT THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



Experiments were tried to determine the relative value of plaster, muck and 

 salt, as compared with stable manure, in the growth of grass for hay during 

 the years 1864-5-6. The soil for these experiments was a light sandy loam, 

 which appeared to be of uniform fertility. It was divided into eight plots of 

 same size ; one was left without manure, to show the natural productiveness of 

 the soil ; the dre&sings for the other plots, and the amount of hay for eacli 

 cutting is exhibited in the following 



TABLE OF RESULTS FOR 1S64. 



The results for 1805 on same plats, but without renewal of manure, to deter- 

 mine tlie influence of these dressing on subsequent crops is given in 



