DAIRY, SEED IMPROVEMENT, STOCK BREEDERS' MEETINGS. 293 



GROWING CROPS WITHOUT POTASH IN 1916. 



CfiAS. D. Woods, Director, Maine Agricultural Experiment 



Station. 



"And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of 

 the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give 

 the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and 

 gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which 

 they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not 

 diminish ought thereof. And the taskmasters of the people 

 went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, say- 

 ing, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go ye, 

 get you straw where ye can find it; yet not ought of your 

 work shall be diminished. Then the officers of the children of 

 Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying. Wherefore dealest 

 thou thus with thy servants? There is no straw given unto 

 thy servants, and they say to us. Make brick : and, behold, thy 

 servants are beaten. He said. Ye are idle. Go therefore now, 

 and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye 

 deliver the tale of bricks." 



Bricks without straw ! Crops without potash ! 



For more than a generation New England agriculture has 

 been dependent upon the purchase of plant food in the form of 

 commercial fertilizers. It has been a matter of great concern 

 to those officially interested in New England agriculture that it 

 has not been self-sustaining and that it has been necessary to 

 look outside of its borders for the needed extra plant food. A 

 most cursory examination of statistics indicates that with the 

 introduction of commercial plant food. New England agricul- 

 ture has steadily advanced, not only in the total yield but in the 

 net profit per acre. There are very few present who remember 

 when potash was made an essenial part of commercial fertil- 

 izers. This occurred in the early seventies. Up to that time 

 the fertilizers chiefly used were guano and dissolved bone black. 

 These carried nitrogen and phosphoric acid but no potash. 



