HOMCEOPATHY IN AGRICULTURE. 207 



this large crop of beets was the result of the application of 

 the plain superphosphate. The quality of the beets you can 

 judge. To my mind, a ton of such sweet roots is to be pre- 

 ferred to a ton of sour ensilage, and the tonnage per acre is 

 fully as large. 



The special fertilizer then for turnips, and probably for 

 stock beets, is one wherein phosphoric acid largely predomi- 

 nates ; but who would think of applying phosphoric acid 

 alone to cabbages, onions or squashes? Yet these crops, no 

 doubt, have their specifics, and if we only knew them, and 

 applied them at the right time, would rarely fail of a healthy 

 and perfect maturity. 



Take, for example, the oat crop. It is known that oats 

 have a great range of weight per bushel ; Professor Johnson 

 says, " Being nearly twice as heavy when grown on rich 

 land, as when gathered from a sandy, inferior soil." Ac- 

 cording to the agricultural statistics of Scotland for the year 

 1857, the bushel of oats produced in some districts weighed 

 forty-four pounds, while in others only twenty-four pounds. 



Now, knowing the right fertilizing ingredients to apply to 

 oats, there is no reason why we should not invariably pro- 

 duce plump, heavy seed, provided always the season is fav- 

 orable. I believe we do know very nearly what is needed 

 for this crop. In my judgment, oats require a liberal quan- 

 tity of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and a moderate amount of 

 potash in the form of muriate ; also, the presence of soda, — 

 not because soda is taken up to any great extent by the 

 crop, but because a little is needed to facilitate the assimila- 

 tion of silica to stiffen the back of the crop and keep it from 

 lodging. I know that Sachs, Wolff and many others have 

 raised oats by water culture, without the presence of soda 

 or silica ; but this does not prove to my mind that it is not 

 advantageous to have soda present in the fertilizer applied. 

 This soda may be present in the form of salt, or in the form 

 of nitrate of soda ; preferably in the latter form, because the 

 nitric acid of the nitrate is of great benefit in the early de- 

 velopment of the crop. Lawes and Gilbert, I believe, con- 

 sider nitrate almost indispensable in the growing of grain 

 crops. 



I have raised this year on 3.4 acres, 160 bushels of oats 



