40 EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



100 i^arts of dry matter contain : — 



Parts. 



Organic matter, 58.00 



Nitrogen, 2.19 



100 parts of peat ashes contain, on the average : — 



Parts. 



Potassium oxide, .44 



Phosphoric acid, .......... .99 



Calcium oxide, .......... 2.53 



Silicious material soluble in dilute hydrochloric acid, . . 88.12 



There can be only a very small agricultural commercial value 

 to the mineral constituents found in peat, as may be seen by the 

 small amount of potash, phosphoric acid and lime given in the 

 average analyses. The greater part of the ashes of peat is com- 

 posed of insoluble silicious material possessing little or no value 

 as plant food. The commercial value of the potash, phosphoric 

 acid and lime in 1 ton of peat ashes, provided they were all in a 

 highly available form, which is probably not the case, would be 

 less than $2. It might be mentioned in this connection that it 

 would take 7,115 pounds of peat of the above composition to 

 make 1 ton of ashes. If peat has any pronounced value as a 

 fertilizer, therefore, it must lie in the organic portion, — that 

 2)ortion which contains the humus and nitrogen. 



In selecting the most valuable peat for fertilizing purposes 

 we would, therefore, choose the product which contains the smal- 

 lest amount of mineral matter ; in other words, that ]iortion that 

 appears to be purely organic vegetable matter. In this connec- 

 tion a question suggests itself to the mind: is there any differ- 

 ence in the availability of the nitrogen contained in j^eat taken 

 from various depths ? Upon first thought one would expect that 

 the lower layers of peat would be in a more advanced state of 

 decomposition, and its nitrogen would, therefore, be more avail- 

 able. Several years ago the writer was able to make an interest- 

 ing exiJcriment regarding the availability of the nitrogen in peat 

 taken at various depths. The samples were procured from a 

 dejDosit averaging about 5 feet deep. One sample was taken 

 from the first 18 inches of the surface layer, the intermediate 

 layer was sam2:)led between 18 inches and 3 feet below the sur- 



