102 FERTILIZERS. 



many fertilizers, as I have stated before, all forms of pot- 

 ash, excBpv tho. carbonate which is found in wood ashes, 

 and one form of crude potash, can be safely mixed with 

 any .fertilizer without loss of ammonia. My farmer friends 

 will remember that I have before this recommended that 

 potash in any form would be likely to do most good if 

 spread on in the late autumn or early in the spring. When 

 wood ashes are used as a source of potash in formulas, I 

 would spread it separately, harrowing it in, and raking in 

 the remainder of the formulas. 



APPLYING FERTILIZERS. 



A man needs a little experience to get them evenly dis- 

 tributed. It is well to practise a bit at first. Suppose, for 

 instance, we -.want to scatter six hundred pounds over an 

 acre of land : that would be one pound to every seventy- 

 two square feet, or a piece of land about eight and a half 

 by eight and a half feet. If we desire to strew, say, three 

 hundred pounds in the drill, the drills being three feet apart, 

 there would be about fourteen thousand feet of drill to the 

 acre, which would give one pound to about forty-five feet 

 of row. One trouble to be met with in distributing fer- 

 tilizers is the wind, which during the planting-season is 

 apt to begin to blow as soon as the air gets warm in the 

 morning, generally slacking up toward night. It is best, 

 therefore, when possible, to put several hands on to spread 

 them, either early in the morning, or toward the close of 

 day. Otherwise, it would be well to have a few buckets 

 of water handy, and pour into the barrels enough at a 

 time to gently moisten by stirring the contents of each, 

 being careful to have them dry enough to distribute freely. 

 To mix them in the drill so that they will not burn the 

 seed, I use often the thick top of a cedar-tree to which a 

 stone has been securely fastened. This, dragged once 



