158 One Thousand Questions in Agriculture 



Your experience seems to justify the application of potash, sureljs 

 but the question still remains, how much good the potash did the 

 trees, and how much they needed the extra water which the waste 

 dips supplied. It would be desirable for you to make another ex- 

 periment with other trees, applying wood ashes, if you have them, 

 or about four pounds per tree of the potash which you use for dip- 

 ping, scattering well and working it into the soil after it is moist- 

 ened by the rains, and not using any more water than the trees 

 ordinarily received from rainfall. After this trial you will be in a 

 position to know whether your trees need potash or irrigation — by 

 comparing with other trees adjacent. Besides are you sure that 

 your lye dip was caustic potash and not caustic soda? The latter 

 has no fertilizing value. 



Prunings as Fertilizer. 



Is orchard and vineyard brush zvorth enough as a fertiliser to pay 

 for cutting or breaking and putting back on the land? 



We should say not. It takes too much labor to put it in any 

 form to promote decay, and is even then too indestructible. It is 

 also possible that its decay may induce root rot of trees. We should 

 burn the stufif and spread the ashes. Vineyard prunings are more 

 promising because more easily and quickly reduced by decay. Vine- 

 cane-hashers have been proposed from time to time, but we do not 

 know anyone who long used them. 



Gypsum on Grain Land. 



Is there any profit in sozving gypsum on grain land, say on ivhcat or 

 oat crop/ At what stage should it be applied and in what quantity? 



It would have a tendency to make the surface more friable and 

 therefore better for moisture retention, and it could be used at the 

 rate of 1000 pounds to the acre, broadcasted before plowing for 

 grain. As our soils are, however, usually well supplied with lime, 

 there is a question whether there would be any profit in the use of 

 gypsum, for, aside from lime, it contains no plant food, although 

 it does act rather energetically upon other coil contents. Gypsum 

 is a tonic and not a fertilizer from that point of view. The best 

 way to satisfy yourself of its effect would be to try a small area, 

 marked so as j'ou could note its behavior as compared with the rest 

 of the field. 



Gypsum and Alfalfa. 



What is gypsum composed off Is it detrimental to land in future 

 years? Have the lands of California any black alkali in them? I notice 

 my neighbors who sozv gypsum on their alfalfa get a very much better 

 yield of hay than those who do not. 



Gypsum is sulphate of lime. It is not detrimental to the land 

 in after years except that its action is to render immediately avail- 

 able other plant foods and this may render the land poorer — not by 



