20 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Germany is again available our farmers will not be able to use 

 much potash; the fertilizer manufacturers in 1916 will have to 

 rely on such accumulated stores as they have, and it is probable 

 that no mixed fertilizer will contain more than 1 per cent of 

 potash, which unit will cost practically $6, At the present 

 time muriate of potash is quoted at $600 a ton, but this quota- 

 tion is merely nominal, as practically none can be obtained at 

 any price. 



Whether profitable crops can be grown for a second season 

 without potash seems to be a question which admits of different 

 answers in different localities. 



Some experiments conducted with potatoes in Maine during 

 1915 showed that on Aroostook County soils profitable crops 

 can be grown for at least one year without potash. Experi- 

 ments at the Rhode Island station have also pointed to the 

 same conclusion, but at Amherst the omission of potash in the 

 fertilizer seems to have caused a noticeable reduction in yield. 

 As a matter of fact none of these experiments have been carried 

 on long enough to draw definite and final conclusions from 

 them, and we can only hope that all of our stations will con- 

 tinue these interesting and valuable experiments for a number 

 of years. 



It is evident with regard to potash that the Massachusetts 

 farmer has got to cut his coat according to his cloth. A great 

 deal has been said and written about the ability of lime to 

 release inert potash in the soil. But in experiments at Amherst, 

 where an application of lime at the rate of 160 pounds per acre 

 has been made annually for a period of years, the yield of 

 grain has been no better than where no lime was applied. This 

 shows that the indirect effect of lime cannot be relied on to take 

 the place of direct applications of potash. 



Plowing under green crops and generally thorough cultural 

 methods may have some effect in liberating the insoluble 

 potash in the soil, but even these methods cannot be relied on 

 to take the place of applications of soluble potash. It seems 

 that in selecting land in 1916 for potash-loving crops, such as 

 potatoes, tobacco, cabbages or corn, our farmers must pick 

 ground which has been well fertilized with this element in 

 previous years. It would also be well for dairy farmers to take 



