184 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



means whereby he can do il, and the speaker hoped that he would 

 be well supported in his experiments. 



Edmund Ilerse}' asked whether more nitrogen was required by 

 grain crops the last of the season than earlier, to which Professor 

 Goessmann replied, Yes. 



Mr. Herse}' went on to say that he had been much perplexed by 

 the question what is really in the soil. Soils vary in each field, 

 and unless we know what crops have been grown and what fertil- 

 izers have been applied we are working in the dark. Suppose 

 that, on a piece of laud where phosphate has been applied freelj', 

 he raises a crop which does not need much phosphoric acid, ought 

 he not to remember that ? Can we distinguish by the growth of 

 the plants what element preponderates? 



Professor Goessmann replied that the knowledge of what has 

 been applied to the soil and taken from it in past years is most 

 important information, for by it we can judge of its probable de- 

 ficiencies. If the crops have carried oflF a large proportion of 

 phosphoric acid and little has been applied we need to apply more. 

 He spoke of a field which had been prepared for experiment by 

 cropping with corn until no more would grow. It was then divided 

 into twelve parts ; the first for nitrogen in the form of nitrate of 

 soda; the second for sulphate of ammonia; the third for nitro- 

 genous organic matter, there being an equal amount of nitrogen in 

 each case. The fourth had a fair amount of phosphoric acid ; the 

 fifth muriate of potash, and the sixth sulphate of potash. The 

 crops on all the plats came out of the ground alike, but only those 

 where potash was used carried them out and yielded a complete 

 crop. If the past history of the ground had been taken into con- 

 sideration this might have been expected ; it had been in grass 

 and corn. The farmer should study the past history of his soil, 

 considering its quality, general character, and what has been 

 grown on it. By such stud}', combined with experiments in the 

 special application of potash, phosphoric acid, and nitrogen, each 

 by itself, he can tell better what his land needs than the chemist 

 can without such information. 



The Professor said he was much pleased with the progress which 

 has been recently made in the knowledge of the subject under 

 consideration. Ten years ago no commercial fertilizers were used 

 for fruit crops ; now he receives many letters asking intelligent 

 questions on this point, and farmers generally are today far more 



