320 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



find it the cheapest fertilizer, for some crops that you grow, 

 of anything that you can get. 



Question. Was the salt harrowed in or ploughed in ? 



Mr. Lewis. It was sown after the beets had put out the 

 fourth leaf. The ground was cultivated two or three times 

 afterwards, but it lodged every Avhere on the beet-tops. It 

 was a dry season, very dry ; well, "dry" does not explain 

 our condition the past year in the county of Herkimer. We 

 were burned up, broiled, fried, roasted, stewed, without any 

 water to stew us in. Now, in a season like this I apprehend 

 salt did tAvice as much as it Avould do in an ordiuaiy season. 

 And yet there is this peculiarity about using salt as a fertil- 

 izer, you can use double the quantity in a wet season that 

 you can in a dry, because, if you get on too much in a wet 

 season, away it goes out of sight and out of hearing. It 

 ffoes right down into the earth. 



Mr. Slade. Could they supply large quantities of this 

 salt? 



Mr. Leavis. Oh, yes, sir. I think the salt companies 

 there would be benefited by disposing of it, and the farmers 

 would be benefited by taking it aAvay. 



Question. How many tons of beets did you raise to the 

 acre, when you used the hen-manure ? 



Mr. Leavis. That year I raised forty-four tons to the acre. 



Question. Would our common commercial salt and plas- 

 ter have the same effect as this article of Avhich you speak ? 



Mr. Leavis. I cannot tell, Ijecause I never tried the ex- 

 periment, but I can see no reason Avhy it would not. 



Question. Would a fertilizer made from the analysis you 

 have stated work the same, provided this salt cannot be ob- 

 tained ? 



Mr. Leavis. I do not know Avhy it should not. 



Question. How was the hen-manure applied, — was it 

 spread or harroAved in ? 



Mr. Leavis. It was dropped right at the root of each 

 plant. It has to be put on carefully. 



]\Ir. Carter. I simply manured my beets with l)arnyard 

 manure, made by the cows in summer. I applied it in the 

 fall, and ploughed it in. In the spring I ploughed it again, 

 harrowed it, smoothed it, and then turned two furrows to- 



