Commercial and Special Fertilizers. 81 



less, will be rendered harmless in the process. It also sweetens and 

 lightens heavy, sour land, and thus, in time, renders it better adapted to 

 the strawberry ; but lime should not be applied directly, in any considerable 

 quantity, to strawberry plants, nor should it be used on very light soils 

 deficient in vegetable matter. The judicious use of salt in small quantities 

 will, I think, prove very beneficial, especially on light upland. It tends to 

 prevent injury from drought, and to clear the land of the larvae of insects. 

 I am inclined to think that much can be accomplished with this agent, 

 and hope to make some careful experiments with it. But it should be 

 used very cautiously, or it will check or destroy growth. 



I have received a letter from Mr. J. H. Hale, of South Glastonbury, 

 Conn., that is such a clear and interesting record of experience on this 

 subject that I am led to give it almost entire : 



" We have always used Peruvian guano, fish scrap, and ground bone to some 

 extent, but until the past five years have depended mainly upon stable manure 

 brought from New York city on boats, using about fifteen cords per acre yearly, 

 and always with satisfactory results, the only objection being the expense. The 

 price ranged from $8 to $12 per cord, or on an average of $150 per acre; and 

 in trying to reduce this expense we commenced testing different fertilizers, plant- 

 ing, in 1874, one acre of strawberries manured with two tons of fish scrap, at $20 

 per ton, and one hundred bushels of unleached wood ashes, at 30 cents per bushel ; 

 making a total cost of $70. The result was a strong, rapid growth of plants early in 

 the summer, but in September and October they began to show signs of not having 

 plant food enough, and then we saw our mistake in using fish in place of bone, or 

 some other slow-acting fertilizer that the plants could not have taken up so greedily 

 early in the summer, but would have had to feed on slowly all through the 

 season. The fruit crop the following year, as might have been expected, was not a 

 success, being only about half a crop. In 1875, we planted another acre, using one 

 ton of ground bone and one hundred bushels of wood ashes, at a total cost of $73; 

 the result was a fine, even growth of plants all through the season, and a perfect 

 crop of fruit the following year, fully equal to that on adjoining acres that had 

 been manured with stable manure at a cost of $150 per acre, to say nothing of 

 the carting of such a great bulk of manure. In the spring of 1876, being so well 

 pleased with the appearance of our one acre manured with bone and ashes, we 

 planned to fertilize all of our fruits in the same way. Then the question arose, 

 where were we to get the ashes ? We could buy enough for an acre or two, but 

 not enough for our whole farm. What were we to do ? Potash we must have, as 

 that is the leading element of plant food required by small fruits of all kinds. We 

 found we must look to the German potash salts for what we wanted, and we there- 

 fore bought several tons of High Grade (80 per cent.) muriate of potash at $40 per 

 ton, using 1,000 pounds per acre, and one ton of bone at $35, making a total cost 

 of only $55 per acre. The plants did not grow quite as well early in the season as 

 those on the fields where ashes were used, but later in the season they made a very 

 fine growth, and at fruiting time, in 1877, we harvested a full and abundant crop of 

 II 



