626 BOARD Ob' AGKICULTDKE. 



Mr. Van Deman: I think it will on the average soil. There aia\ 

 be poor soils on which it will not apply. 



Mr. Flick: What about phosphoric acid and potash? 



Ml". Van Deman: It is there. 



Mr. Flick: This system that you described would not restore that I'i 

 it was missing? 



Mr. Van Deman: No, sir. It would not add one atom to it. There 

 might be soils in which it might be necessary. 



Mr. Flick: I think it is quite frequently so in this State, especially 

 as to the acid. 



Mr. Van Deman: It is more seldom than people think. 



Prof. Latta: Mr. Flick, let me ask you if in your experience you 

 have found it necessary to use phosphoric acids? 



Mr. Flick: Yes, sir. 



Prof. Latta: To buy them? 



Mr. Flick: Yes, sir. 



Mr. Van Deman: In Western New Yorlv they have made quite ex- 

 tensive experiments with this purpose in view of determining whether 

 or not it is necessary to go to the fertilizer dealer and buy the acid and 

 the potash, and I thinlc in some cases they find that it is necessany, but 

 in many cases they find that it is not necessary, and not profitable. 

 When we buy potash in sacks in the form of fertilizers it will be nitrate 

 of potash, which is the cheapest commercial form. By using this it is 

 sometimes said that you can tell the difference in the I'ows. They found 

 this difference in regard to the phosphoric acid. I think as a rule it is 

 more necessary to buy that than the potash for the average soil in 

 Indiana. 



Prof. Latta: Are there others that have found as Mr. Flick has found 

 that it is necessarj^ to supply phosphoric acid to the orchards? 



Mr. DeVilbiss: I have thirty acres in orchard and I could not get 

 a. stand of clover, and I hauled ashes to the orchard. I had three hun- 

 dred loads of ashes and I put them on the orchard. I want to spealc of 

 alfalfa. I sowed about two and one-half acres of the alfalfa three years 

 ago and I got an excellent stand. It was so thick I could not leave it 

 stand another year. I had to have the hay so I cut it and took about 

 four loads of hay to the barn. My idea is to continue this, and I have 

 sowed anotlier strip of four rows of trees, and it is growing .inst like 

 weeds. 



