REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 



179 



A mixture of lime and salt has long been used as a material for composting with 

 muck and substances of a like character. The lime is slaked with brine — the proportion 

 used being about 1 part of salt to 20 parts of lime. The " fertilizer " under examination 

 is evidently of this character. 



The commercial value of the material is approximately that of lime, plus that of 

 tlie small amount of salt it contains. Though no statement is made by the vendor as to 

 the plant food it contains, we are of the opinion that asking $5 per cwt. for a mixture 

 of lime and salt practically constitutes a fraud. Agriculturally, it may be considered 

 useful for composting purposes (though it should not be used in conjunction with barn- 

 yard manure in the compost heap) and for supplying lime to soils deficient in that 

 element, but for this purpose its value would not exceed $4 to $5 per ton. It may be 

 pointed out that wood ashes would make a much richer compost, since they contain both 

 potash and phosphoric acid. 



We may again repeat that this so-called fertilizing compound is in no sense com- 

 parable to those commercial fertilizers upon the market that supply the necessary and 

 more costly constituents of plant food, viz., nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid. 



MOSS LITTER. 



Attention was drawn to the usefulness of this material for bedding purposes in our 

 report for 1895, Vide, pp. 212-13. It was pointed out that its high absorptive 

 capacity for fluids and gases render it particularly valuable as a litter for use in city 

 stables. Since the appearance of the information there conveyed, several samples from 

 large bogs in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have been sent for examination, in 

 order to ascertain the absorptive value of the Canadian produced litter as compared with 

 that exported from Holland. The results now recorded have been obtained from sam- 

 ples collected by Mr. W. Saxby Blair, Horticulturist, Experimental Farm, Nappan, N.S., 

 from Big Plain Bog and Weldon Bog, N.S., in both of which the supply is said to be 

 well nigh unlimited. They were both clean and bright specimens, consisting of fine 

 straight fibres and free from all foreign matter. The analytical methods used were the 

 same as those detailed in the aforementioned report. 



A2TALYSIS OP MOSS LITTER (aIR-DRIED). 



As regards composition, these samples are very similar, and, it may be remarked 

 do not materially differ from the litter mosses previously reported upon. Their absorptive 

 capacity is very satisfactory ; their low " ash " t'lows absence of earth, and their nitrogen 

 content indicates that the resulting manure would be materially enriched in this valuable 

 constituent of plant food. 



A further and most important use for moss litter has recently been found. It has 

 been used with good success as a packing material for fruits and other perishable 

 articles in transit. Its absorbent power keeps the fruit dry and thus assists in arresting 

 or preventing that decomposition which always follows "sweating," due to imperfect 

 ventilation and other ncauses. From a hygienic, as well as a mechanical standpoint, moss 

 litter should commend itself as a packing medium. 

 8a— 12^ 



