POTASH MANURES 159 



hay is obtained. This, combined with some 

 improvement in quality, has justified the use 

 of the potash ; but, as in the case of so many 

 other details of manuring, no one can come 

 to any reliable conclusion as to whether 

 potash should be used or not without carrying 

 through an accurate field experiment. 



With regard to the treatment of per- 

 manent pasture, as contrasted with hay, one 

 can only refer to the exhaustive series of 

 experiments conducted in different parts of 

 Great Britain, and reported on in a Supple- 

 ment to the January issue of the Journal 

 of the Board of Agriculture in 1911. In the 

 case of these experiments the results were 

 gauged by the effects exerted by the manures 

 upon the growth of sheep, and in no case 

 was it found that potash could be profitably 

 employed. As is pointed out in the report, 

 it is much less likely that potash will be 

 required on pasture than on hay. Stock, 

 grazing a pasture, are constantly dropping 

 potash in the form of solid and liquid excreta 

 on the surface of the ground. This potash 

 was, of course, in the land before, but much 

 of it was so deep down as to be beyond the 

 reach of any but the deeper-rooted plants. 

 By them, however, it is absorbed and con- 

 veyed to the leaves and stems, and when 



