MANURES. 55 



moting growth ; but great care should be used that it be not 

 made too strong. 



SOOT. 



Like ashes, soot has its origin exclusively from vegetables, 

 but may, with them, be properly treated under the present 

 head. It holds ammonia, charcoal and other important fer- 

 tilizers, and is used at the rate of 50 to 200 bushels per acre. 

 Soot produces its greatest effects in moist weather, and in dry 

 seasons it has sometimes proved positively injurious. It 

 may be sown broadcast over the field, and harrowed in ; or 

 mixed with such other manures in the muck heap, as are in- 

 tended for immediate use. The ammonia has a great ten- 

 dency to escape, which can only be prevented by adequate 

 absorbents, such as peat, muck, rich turf, tan bark or other 

 vegetable remains. Many experiments made with it, have 

 proved contradictory. In some, it has been shown to be 

 useless for clovers ; while it has proved of great service to 

 several of the grasses. Salt, when mixed with it, enhances 

 its effects. In an experiment made in England with pota- 

 toes, on three separate acres of land of equal quality, one 

 without manure gave 160 bushels; one manured with 30 

 bushels of soot yielded 196; and the third, which received 

 the sarne^ quantity of soot and seven bushels of salt, yielded 

 236. The salt insures for it that degree of moisture, which 

 is probably essential to its most beneficial action. 



