No. 4 ] CHEMICAL AND FARM MANURES. 171 



used every year bone meal in the same amount on all plots. 

 We have been testing the relative value of these two forms 

 of potash, and are now able to give you some hints which I 

 believe you will find of great value. We find for many 

 crops there docs not appear to be any material difference in 

 the value of the two salts. This is true of corn, and under 

 this manuring, — four hundred pounds of one or the other 

 and six hundred pounds of bone meal — we this year got 

 one of the largest crops of corn for the silo that we have 

 ever raised, — it amounted to something over thirty tons to 

 the acre. It was a large variety of corn and the growth was 

 enormous, and we got something over thirty tons to the acre 

 where the land has for this long period (since 1884) been 

 every year manured in this way, — one with muriate, the 

 other with sulfate, and both with six hundred pounds of 

 bone meal. The crop of corn this year was a little larger on 

 the muriate of potash than on the sulfate. But in all our 

 experience we have not found much difierence in the value of 

 these two salts for this crop. The same is true for grass. 

 For cabbage there is a decided difference in favor of the sul- 

 fate ; for beans, in favor of the sulfate ; for sugar beets, in 

 favor of the sulfate. 



But I will not go further in the details concerning that 

 point. That is not the most important fact I wanted to 

 bring to your attention in connection with the use of these 

 two salts. The fact is this : We have found that where we 

 continue to use muriate of potash year after year the soil 

 gradually gets into an unproductive condition. This con- 

 dition appears to be connected with the loss of lime. Chlo- 

 ride or any kind of muriate of potash is the one we usually 

 employ, unless we use kainit. The continued use of the 

 chloride seems to result in the washing out of a considerable 

 share of the lime in the soil. 



We have found that, where we have used muriate of pot- 

 ash in moderate amounts — not exceeding two hundred 

 pounds to the acre — for a series of years, the only way to 

 bring the soil back was to give it a dressing of lime ; and in 

 my most recent publication on this subject of manuring I 

 have called attention to this fact, and have there joointed out 

 the fact that the apparent saving which you make by employ- 



