54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



other manures. What is the use of applying salt, if it pro- 

 duces no effect ? I know that in some places among these hills, 

 you can apply gypsum, and write your name in the grass, but 

 witli us, you might as well apply so much dust from the middle 

 of the street ; it would do just as much good. 



I only speak of our locality. I have spread salt upon grass 

 without the least result. The notion has prevailed among nur- 

 serymen and orchardists, that we must apply salt to plum-trees, 

 and one man went so far that he applied it until he said he 

 could taste the salt in the leaf of the plum-tree — which I did 

 not believe ; but I never could see any good results coming 

 from that. I am free to say, however, that I do not profess 

 to know but very little about it, except from my own observa- 

 tion and experience. But I cannot say that I have seen the 

 least beneficial result from the use of salt. 



Mr. Slade. We are in the habit of using considerable 

 leached ashes, coming from the northern part of New York 

 State. We have an idea that there is a vast difference in the 

 quality of those ashes, depending upon whether they are hard- 

 wood or soft-wood ashes. I call upon Prof. Chadbourne to give 

 the farmers a simple rule by which they can determine whether 

 they are valuable or otherwise. 



Prof. Chadbouene. The pump sucks ! (Laughter.) Of 

 course, any chemist can analyze a given specimen of ashes and 

 tell exactly what they are ; and in almost all of our agricultural 

 books you will find an analysis of the ashes of all the common 

 woods that are burned. I know of no way myself to direct the 

 farmers, except that if they know where the ashes are produced, 

 and have a book like Johnston's, where these analyses are given, 

 they can see about what the average composition is. As to 

 giving any simple rule, it is utterly impossible for me to do it. 

 So far as I am concerned, I say the pump sucks there. 



Mr. Slade. Take, for instance, a few soft-wood ashes in a 

 saucer and apply vinegar, will the result be the same as it 

 would if they were hard-wood ashes ? 



Prof. Chadbourne. It will not be the same. The ashes 

 differ in the amount of free potash they contain ; and the more 

 free potash they have, the more vinegar it will take to deposit it. 

 But then, the vinegar itself is a variable quantity, and you 

 would have to consult a chemist to get vinegar of a certain 



