134 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



manure from the cow yard on another plat, the field sown in oats, with 

 the result that with the exception of the three plats that had heen 

 manured the oats stood up well. No difference was perceptible on account 

 of the different kinds of manure used, all three plats being so badly 

 lodged that it was impossible to secure more than half of the crop with 

 the harvester. 



It is needless to say that the corn crop that followed the oats on these 

 plats that were manured made up for the partial loss of the crop of oats. 



A number of years ago we were told by some would-be scientist that 

 what our soil needed was salt, and the Chicago packers promptly offered 

 the refuse salt after being used in the curing of hog products at a less 

 price than the new salt could be bought for by the barrel. Several car- 

 loads were sold to the farmers in our neighborhood, but the results were 

 not satisfactory. I did not purchase, believing that the salt having been 

 used,- had lost its savor, but instead tried a quantity of new salt without 

 any perceptible benefit. 



Having in my study of agricultural chemistry learned that silica gave 

 firmness and rigidity to the stalks of grass, and the cereals, and not 

 having at hand any powdered quartz. I tried an application of river 

 sand to the heavy black soil, but the crop did not assimilate the cruder 

 article, and the straw was no stronger than in other parts of the field. 



Following up my experience with the old plaster and the ashes of the 

 brush heaps, I mixed sand and lime together, applying the mixture to a 

 plat of ground, having previously tried lime, as I had sand, separate, 

 without results in strengthening the straw. The lime and sand mixed 

 proved of as little value as they did separate and on calling the attention 

 of a neighbor to the former result from the old plaster and no result 

 from the lime and sand, he reminded me that I had omitted the hair 

 always used in plaster. 



On an adjoining plat of ground I applied a good coat of oak ashes that 

 I purchased from the Amana Society in Iowa county, with the result that 

 the oat straw was stiff er and stronger on this plat; of this there was no 

 question. While that season all the oats stood up I was convinced that 

 the oats straw had been strengthened by the potash in the oak ashes. 

 It was of brighter color than the balance of the field, the grain was 

 plumper and heavier and had it been possible to secure a supply of 

 oak ashes at a reasonable price this experiment would have been con- 

 tinued on a larger scale. 



It is well known to every student of agricultural chemistry that the 

 three principal fertilizers are potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen, and 

 if the soil is deficient in either one of these, while having the others in 

 abundance the crop must suffer for the lack of plant food, in other words, 

 plants require, as well as animals, a balanced ration. 



Much more could be written on this subject, but I have already ex- 

 ceeded the limit I had intended and it only remains for me to repeat again 

 that our land is not too rich to produce oats that will not lodge, but it is 

 too poor. And to insure strong, stiff straw that will stand up we must 

 furnish the soil with the necessary plant food, in the same manner as 

 we feed our young animals oats, shorts and bran to make bone and 

 muscle, reserving the corn for fattening. 



