The Question Box. 267 



Mr. Terry. — It would not do at all. There would be so much 

 nitrogen in it that the wheat would all fall down; but, when it is 

 put on the clover and the clover is cut early, it does no harm, and 

 we get its full benefit in our potato crop next year. 



Does it pay to buy manure to bring up the land? 



Mr. Terry. — It would depend on the quality, what it cost and 

 how far one would have to draw it. If I had to pay fifty cents a 

 load for ordinary manure and draw it half a mile, I would not 

 touch it. Too much of it, from livery stables, becomes fire-fanged, 

 thus leaving nothing but potash and phosphoric acid in it, worth 

 four cents a pound. If manure is made on a cement floor and 

 all — urine included — saved, and it is directly applied to the land, it 

 will pay to buy it and haul it a short distance, at a reasonable 

 price. A load of such manure weighing 3,000 pounds, drawn two 

 miles, will pay at |1. 



Are wood asties good for a clay soil? Are Canada ashes pure? 



Prof. Cavanaugh. — I guess that it will be found that wood 

 ashes are good anywhere. On clay, ashes are valuable, because 

 they contain from 30 to 50 per cent, of lime. Good ashes will 

 analyze four or more per cent, potash, with one per cent, phos- 

 phoric acid. But I would not buy them except on a guaranteed 

 analysis. I think they would be most valuable on a heavy clay 

 soil. They are worth what the potash shows up. The phosphoric 

 acid in wood ashes runs from one to one-and-a-half per cent., but 

 it is not all at once available for the use of the plant. 



Mr. Litchard. — I buy all the wood ashes I can find; they are 

 the best fertilizer I can obtain for my potato ground. 



What per cent, of potash is there in average hardwood ashes? 



Mr. Cook. — They will not average more than about four per 

 cent, when dry and unleached. Sometimes we find a higher per 

 cent., then a lower one, but there is a little phosphoric acid in 

 them, possibly one and one-half per cent. The remainder consists 

 of about forty per cent, of lime and foreign matter, so that, on 

 sour soils, ashes have an additional value in this direction. On 

 soils that are not sour their only value is in their potash and the 

 small per cent, of phosphoric acid, which is slowly available. 



