1^ DK. XrCHOLS' ADDRESS. 



purcha^jcd. of 'So4.1>0. Some of the t;uperpho.^]jbates. so called, cost 

 the manufacturer less than §10.00 per ton, but they had a selling price 

 of $50.00 per ton. The highest cost of any one specimen was $82.00, 

 which is sold at SGO.OO. The loss to the farmer on a ton of the for- 

 mer would be §40. 00, on the latter, $28.00. Now it is evident that 

 none but the most wealthy farmers can afford to buy these products, 

 and it is equally evident, if they purchase many of them iheir more 

 sensible neighbors will soon find them objects of support in the 

 poor-house. 



Potash holds a most important place in the list of substances con- 

 sumed^ by plants, and, hitherto, much anxiety has been manifested 

 regarding a supply equal to our wants A few years ago we were 

 acquainted with no sources of the agent save that of the ash of plants, 

 and as mineral coal came into use for furnishing household warmth, 

 wood ashes and the potash salts obtained from them, became very 

 scarce and costly. Every year the farmer removed from the soil large 

 quantities of potash in his crops which he could not return again 

 through the excrement of his animals, and therefore it was evident his 

 lands were becoming impoverished to an alarming extent. High culti- 

 vation, as respects potash, increases this impoverishment, as all cultivated 

 plants are richer in this su])stance than thosa growing spontaneously. 

 To obtain a clear understanding of the needs of the soil, it may be 

 stated that an acre of wheat producing 25 bushels of grain and oOU(> 

 pounds of straw, removes about 40 pounds of potash in the crop. Can 

 any farmer before me conceive of that number of pounds of potash 

 existmg in tlie soil of any one acre of land upon his farm ? W'c know 

 It must be present and within easy re<ich of the plants, else not a blade 

 of wheat can grow and mature the seed. Nearly ail soils, of cour.se, 

 contain potash, but the (juantity is often insufficient for crops of any of 

 the cereal grains. " ' ' . 



A crop of corn raised u{ion my farm in 18G0, of 100 bushels to the 

 acre, removed, in kernol and stalk, 15(> pounds of potasli and 8i> 

 pounds of phosphoric acid. Now I did not supply to the crop all this 

 potash and phosphoric acid, but I gave an important lift in feeding to 

 the plants bone dust and wood aslies. which supply these agents. We 

 cannot, gentlemen, rai.se large crops of corn without furnishing potash 

 m some assimilable form, for a small crop of 50 bushels to the acre, 

 requires about 75 pounds of the agent. A fair v-rop of oats, say 50 

 bushels to the acre, removes only about 13 pounds of potash ; .barley 

 and^rye remove not far from 3J pounds each. 



iSov» we all have observed the great deterioration in our potato crops 

 durmg the past tQu or twenty years, and what is the cause of this 

 alarming decrease of tubers V Can science, can clu!:rdstry point out the 

 reason, or aid in remedying the difficulty V I think it can, and in order 

 to place the matter l)efore you in a clear light, let ir.e ])oint out the 

 kind and amount of food which the pot:ito demands. I have a field of 

 potatoes on my farm which I expect will yield 300 bushels to the acre 

 which may be regarded as an old fashioned crop. I know that thi.s 

 crop will remove from the soil, in tubers and tops, at least 400 pound.-s 



