134: Bueea.1i of Farmers' Institutes. 



Question. — In what form should phosphoric acid and potash be 

 applied on the land ? 



Mr. Smith. — Phosphoric acid is most cheaply obtained in dis- 

 solved South Carolina rock; potash, in the muriate or sulphate. 

 Sulphate is better for fruit. It has not been proved that it is 

 any better for potatoes. Wood ashes contain potash. It is their 

 most valuable constituent. They also contain a small per cent, 

 of phosphoric acid; the residue is lime. If the ashes contain five 

 per cent, of potash and one per cent, phosphoric acid, and are 

 dry, clean and pure, they make a good fertilizer. 



Question. — How shall we know what fertilizer our soils most 

 need? 



Mr. Smith. — By observing the plant. If it makes a large 

 growth of straw and falls down, there is an over-supply of nitrogen ; 

 if the growth is feeble, a lack of it; if the leaf is lacking in vigor 

 and color, or the fruit lacks in color or sugar, there is a want of 

 potash; if the fruit falls prematurely or does not perfect, there 

 is a lack of phosphoric acid. 



Question. — Will it pay to fertilize corn with phosphate when 

 planting it? 



Mr. Woodward. — I have made commercial fertilizers pay on 

 potatoes, but never on corn. I keep a good many sheep and get 

 manure enough. We apply our manure on a clover sod every 

 day during the winter, which we will turn down for corn. The 

 next year I plant potatoes on the same land, and I find I can 

 make a fertilizer pay in that way. I have put these fertilizers 

 on corn. On wheat and other grain crops I have never made 

 them pay. 



Question. — Can anything be added to muck to make it a paying 

 fertilizer ? 



Prof. Cavanaugh. — Some muck is rich in nitrogen. I have 

 known samples of it to contain as much as 2.5 per cent, nitro- 

 gen. It is the remains of vegetable decay, but, if this is dry, its 

 nitrogen value is lessened. Our best onion soils are muck, but 

 they may be sour. Add lime, then add potash and phosphoric 

 acid to such muck soils. 



To Mr. Smith. — What formula of fertilizer, other than barn 

 manure, do you use for top-dressing the alfalfa field on the Geneva 

 Station farm ? 



Answer. — As a rule, the field is top-dressed with fine barn 

 manure once in two years. If we do not have the manure, a 

 commercial fertilizer, made up of 100 pounds of dried blood, 100 



