228 THE WHEAT CULTUKIST. 



soil, if lie would learn its value ; for salt has been em- 

 ployed so extensively as a fertilizer, with no apparent 

 effect, that it is useless to recommend it, unless a farmer 

 is satisfied that an application of it will pay. AVe 

 Jcnoiv a dressing of manure will pay. Now if a farmer 

 has such assurance that salt sowed on land will pay, I 

 recommend a liberal dressing of salt on such land. 



Charcoal Dust as a Fertilizer. 



Charcoal is composed almost entirely of pure carbon ; 

 and when small fragments are exposed to the influences 

 of the weather, they undergo very little change during 

 a long term of years. Still the roots of growing plants 

 will lay hold of the small pieces of charcoal, and appro- 

 priate the substance contained in the coal to the growth 

 and development of the stems, leaves, and seeds of grain, 

 fruit, and vegetables. 



Experienced chemists assure us, charcoal, and particu- 

 larly charcoal dust, has the power of attracting and 

 fixing large quantities of ammonia, a substance which 

 enters largely into the formation of useful plants, and 

 of retaining this fertilizing material when buried in the 

 soil, until the fine fibres of the roots of growing plants 

 require it for promoting their growth. Charcoal has the 

 power of attracting and retaining other gaseous substan- 

 ces besides ammonia, which are highly beneficial to 

 growing wheat plants, as well as grass, vines, trees, and 

 shrubs. 



Every observing farmer who has been accustomed to 

 raise wheat cannot have failed to notice the luxuriant 

 growth of cereal grain round about the places where 

 charcoal has been burned, even more than thirty or forty 



