170 THE WHEAT CULTURIST. 



In numerous instances, the chief element wanting to 

 make a soil productive, is lime. But it is folly, and many 

 times injurious to the soil, to apply a dressing of lime 

 when lime is not the thing required. The only way in 

 which a farmer can determine whether lime is required 

 in a soil, is by numerous experiments on his own 

 land. 



Ashes are needed in almost every soil, on account of 

 the amount of potash required to form a stiff, healthy 

 straw. See my remarks about ashes in the latter part of 

 this book, in the chapter on insects and diseases of wheat. 



WHAT A BARREN SOIL LACKS. 



Daniel Lee, one of the most scientific writers of 

 America on Agricultural Chemistry, writes : 



&quot;Every observing farmer knows that it is far easier to 

 produce a large growth of straw than a great yield of 

 grain. This comes from a lack of knowledge of the 

 things which form the seeds of cereal plants. Phos 

 phorus and ammonia, or available nitrogen and phos 

 phoric acid the things wanting in oat straw to make 

 the seeds of this plant are not very cheap nor abundant. 

 Guano contains more of them than any other fertilizer 

 now in the market. Bones also abound in these ele 

 ments. Limestone that contains the remains of shells 

 and animals, also possesses more or less phosphoric acid. 

 But where a field is so badly worn that it will not bear 

 over twenty bushels of oats, it had better be seeded with 

 clover, and limed, salted, plastered, and ashed, as well 

 as manured, to a moderate extent. This, with subsoil 

 ploughing, will soon bring it up, while the crop of clover 

 will pay all the expenses. 



