236 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



Bradley's 18. The experiment has shown us that the land is 

 deficient in phosphoric acid. I think the result that we got 

 from Peruvian guano has shown us also that in Peruvian 

 guano we had just what was wanted. 



Mr. West. What is the nature of your soil ? 



Mr. Cables. The soil is not hard clay, but of a clayey 

 nature. It had not been plowed for years, and is wet during 

 the spring. We did not get the water out until quite late. I 

 consider that it was because it had not been plowed and mel- 

 lowed up, and the water could not get down through. 



We used Peruvian guano and these other fertilizers on eight 

 acres of cabbage, putting the guano in the row. The land 

 was plowed in the fall and harrowed thoroughly in the spring. 

 Then we had a machine that we got up in the winter to fur- 

 row it, with two shovel plates in front, and it furrowed out 

 two rows at a time. We furrowed it very shallow — we 

 couldn't furrow it deep because there was so much sod. 

 After we had furrowed it, we set the men to work scattering 

 the Peruvian guano in the furrows — a very fine sprinkling. 

 We did not dare to put much in, for we knew it was very 

 strong. We also tried Bradley's fertilizer, putting on just 

 double the quantity of that that we did of Peruvian guano, 

 because, according to the analysis, Peruvian guano was worth 

 double. Where we put on a double quantity of Bradley's 

 fertilizer, it burnt the cabbage so badly that I suppose there 

 were four plants gone to one that was left, in some places ; 

 in other places, two left and another open space, and so on. 

 It spoiled the patch. The few that did grow and mature 

 were very large, but soft. I never saw a soft head in the 

 eight acres where we used the Peruvian guano. We tried 

 this experiment to show what the land needed. Where we 

 used the perfect fertilizer, we got good cabbage. Where we 

 used nitrogen and phosphoric acid, leaving out the potash, we 

 got larger cabbages and solid heads. Where we used phos- 

 phates alone, we got nearly as large cabbage as where we 

 used the perfect manure — very fine cabbage and very well 

 matured in every way. During the growth of the plants, we 



