28 



THE AMOUNT OF POTASH REMOVED 

 BY EACH CROP. 



A glance at the quantity of potash which the crops of 1887 

 removed from the soil, cannot fail to be highly instructive in 

 this connection. The crop of 1887, as reported by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, consisted in: 

 1,456,160,000 bushels of corn, and removed 189,290 tons of potash (K 2 0) 



In all, 1,476,904 tons of potash. 



For the replacement of it no less than 11,538,281 tons of 

 kainit, at 12.8 K 2 O, would have been required. The very 

 alplia of farming demands the replacement of that proportion 

 which can in no way reach the soil, in another form, again. 

 The quantity of potash contained in the cereals and other 

 products exported is, of course, lost to the land; again, the 

 quantity of cereals and agricultural products consumed in the 

 large cities and towns find, as a rule, their way into sewers or 

 canals, and into the river or sea and are again lost; and what is 

 contained in the dropping of animals is only in a very small 

 way returned to the ground; therefore, it seems safe to affirm 

 that the replacement of at least one-tenth of what the crop 

 removes is absolutely necessary to prevent a gradual, but sure 

 impoverishment of the soil. 



POTASH AND BARLEY. 



Let us consider what Professor Wagner says regarding barley: 

 "It is practically known that barley repays much less a fertili- 

 zation with nitrogen than oats; it is also practically known that 

 fertilizing with nitrogen produces barley that is too rich in 



