60 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



Professor Stockbridge. Then that illustrates the old 

 saying, that what is one man's meat is another man's 

 poison. 



Mr. Peterson. I would suggest that possibly some of 

 these articles mentioned may have a mechanical effect upon 

 the soil. Salt may have some mechanical effect as a mineral 

 in the soil, and that may account for the results which have 

 been described. I know that the application of beach sand, 

 which I made at the suffo-estion of Professor Goessmann, has 

 given me better results than if I had applied a dressing of 

 manure. My point is this : that any common sand applied 

 to low and heavy soil acts mechanically, and elaborates the 

 plant food which is in the earth and which is essential to 

 the growth of plants. I do not know much about salt. I 

 live within five minutes' walk of a beach, and I have no 

 difficulty in growing anything after a little experience ; but 

 some things have bafiled and vexed me until I have gained a 

 knowledge of their nature, and then I have generally suc- 

 ceeded. Cabbages, especially, I can grow right on the 

 borders of a salt-marsh ; and I get splendid crops of cauli- 

 flower. 



Mr. Rawson. I wish the lecturer, he being very familiar 

 with cauliflower seeds, would describe the different kinds of 

 cauliflower and their growth, particularly on Long Island. 



Mr. Henderson. The Algiers, the Erfurt and the Snow- 

 ball have been almost exclusively used in our locality. The 

 Algiers has been grown almost entirely for a late crop on 

 Long Island ; but it has failed so completely for the last 

 two or three years that they are now using the Snowball 

 and Erfurt instead, using the early varieties for the late 

 crops. These are the only kinds that are now used in our 

 vicinity. 



Dr. Fisher. If the gentlemen will bear with me a 

 moment, I should like to introduce the antidote along with 

 the poison. The poison seems to have taken hold pretty 

 strongly. People are talking here about raising plants with 

 nitrate of soda, raising plants with salt. It cannot be done. 

 It is pure nonsense. Plants do not feed on salt, they do 

 not live on nitrate of soda. You might just as well say 

 that because a man uses pepper with his dinner, you will 



