d GYPSUM. BY 
Where there is reason to suspect a deficiency of any par- 
ticular ash ingredient in the soil, it should be at once sup- 
plied. Bone dust is a convenient form in which phosphoric 
acid may be furnished. Potash and soda are returned in 
the form of wood ashes. Quick-lime unmixed with animal 
manure should be sparingly but frequently applied. Not 
one of the least important advantages resulting from the 
moderate use of lime is the fact that it accelerates greatly 
the development of the cane, enabling the plant to mature 
ten to fourteen days earlier than it would otherwise do. 
But as a special fertilizer, gypsum must be allowed a 
most important place. In 1862, Mr. Harris, of the Gen- 
esee Farmer, made some experiments on sorghum with 
various manures, in which the advantages resulting from 
the use of plaster of Paris (sulphate of lime or gypsum) 
were manifested in a most extraordinary degree. A con- 
densed account of these experiments was published in the 
American Agriculturist (vol. xxi. page 361), from which 
the following is an extract: 
“The soil, a sandy loam, had been under cultivation with- 
out manuring for some thirty years; the last three years 
it had lain in grass and clover. It was plowed and har- 
rowed into mellow condition, and the sorghum planted 
June 4th, in hills, about 3 feet, 4 inches apart. Eleven 
plots, each containing one-twentieth of an acre, were ex- 
perimented upon, ‘The various manures were applied in 
the hill, being thoroughly worked into the soil, and then 
covered with fresh earth, on which the seed was planted. 
“The sorghum was cut October 7th and 8th, and the 
stalks accurately weighed in the field, with the following 
results; 
