Ko. 4.] MANURIAL PROBLEMS. lJ)a 



Mr. Geouge Cruicksiiaxks (of Fitchburg). It may be 

 of interest to some here to know that the variety of straw- 

 berry that Professor Brooks referred to was the Haviland. 

 This variety b(n-e very heavily tliat year. I have my share 

 of chiekweed, and I would lilve to ask if any one knows of a 

 way to subdue it. I found it a little a few years ago. It 

 did not spread much, because cultivation kept it from in- 

 creasing ; now it spreads over a large territory. 



Dr. Wheeler. I will say just a word about chiekweed. 

 On my own lawn I applied wood ashes, and the chiekweed 

 came in all over it. The ashes made the soil favorable to 

 chiekweed ; so, thinking I had done too much of a good thing 

 in putting on ashes, I used muriate of potash and acid phos- 

 phate and sulfate of ammonia, tending to increase the acidity 

 of the soil, and I have got rid of chiekweed. 



Mr. Cruickshanks. I have read that two quarts of fine 

 salt to a square rod did not hurt the gi-ass on a lawn, but did 

 hurt the chiekweed, and soon killed it out. 



Dr. Wheeler. Salt would have the same general tend- 

 ency as the manures I mentioned. 



Mr. Cruickshanks. If a field produces heavy crops of 

 clover, and even if clover comes in very readily all over the 

 field, is that an indication that lime will be of any benefit to 

 that field ? 



Dr. Wheeler. The fact that clover comes in would 

 rather be an indication that lime would not be needed ; yet 

 the soil may be in such an acid condition as to injure certain 

 plants and yet permit of the growth of clover. It is a 

 question of degree. On land where timothy grows stout 

 and clover comes in readily, I think for all ordinary farm 

 crops there will be no need of liming for a long time to 

 come ; but it may be possible that even upon that land a 

 crop of beets or of lettuce or of spinach would be somewhat 

 increased. All ordinary crops might not be benefited at all. 



Mr. Cruickshanks. My location is between two hills. 

 I have a soil that will stand being laid down well manured, 

 after growing two or three crops of corn, potatoes or other 

 crops. I have had it stand for seven years and still produce 

 a heavy crop of herd's grass. One of the oldest men of 



