VIII. APPLICATION OF MANUEES 169 



rather to improve the condition and general fertility of the land, than 

 to feed the next crop which is put upon it. Pastures, turnips, 

 tobacco, vines and hops are often manured with bone meal or bone 

 dust and up to 4 or 5 cwt. per acre is the usual dressing. The 

 manure should be applied some time before the crop requires the 

 phosphoric acid. 



Potash Salts. These are retained by the soil with great tenacity, 

 and little or no loss through drainage need be feared. Potash 

 manures can therefore safely be applied in the autumn, either as top 

 dressings, or drilled in with other manures. 



They are needed mainly on sandy and peaty soils, and the crops 

 which most readily respond are potatoes and leguminosce. For corn, 

 clover, grasses and turnips it does not appear to be of importance 

 whether the chloride or sulphate of potash be employed, but sugar- 

 beet, potatoes and tobacco should not be manured with the chloride. 

 The effects of this substance are, in the case of beets, to diminish the 

 proportion of cane sugar, with potatoes, to render them waxy, and 

 with tobacco to cause the finished product to burn badly. 



Potash manures are not applied in large quantities, from 1 to 2 

 cwt. of the sulphate or muriate, or up to 5 or 6 cwt. of kainite being 

 the usual dressings per acre. With the last mentioned, the introduc- 

 tion of considerable quantities of magnesium and sodium salts along 

 with the potash, may, in some cases, be injurious, and due regard mus.t 

 be paid to this fact. Where drainage is small, a brackish condition 

 of the soil may easily be induced by the prolonged use of kainite. 



