Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 659 



chlorine, it is assumed bj some, will hasten the germination of seeds, 

 and the soda is an element of plant food which is often exhausted on 

 lands by excessive cropping. In all soils when the straw is long but 

 weak I say try salt. 



Analysis of Eakth fkom "Westchestepw County. 



Some weeks ago Mr. Lawton of New Kochelle, brought a speci- 

 men of moist blue earth, and asked the opinion of the Club as to. its 

 value as a fertilizer. It was referred to Prof. Whitney, who reports 

 as follows : 



The material is not a marl, as was thought by some when it was 

 brought before the Club. Almost wholly destitute of lime, it is as 

 far as possible removed from shell marl, so called, and the nearly 

 total absence of potash makes it so far below green sand, that no 

 comparison can fairly be made between them. The presence of a 

 noteworthy portion of phosphoric acid would give it some value as a 

 fertilizer, were it not that the acid probably exists in the form of an 

 insoluble phosphate of iron. The material might be used to advan- 

 tage on light and porous lands, to give greater consistence to the soil, 

 in the same manner that clay has been used for the same purpose. 

 In this case, the slow dissolution of its phosphoric acid would, in the 

 course of years, add appreciably to the fertility of the soil to which 

 it was applied. It cannot, however, be called a manure in any 

 proper sense of the term, or used as a substitute for marl which has 

 a far different origin, and many times as much of fertilizing constitu- 

 ents. 



Mineral Manure for Grain. 



Dr. S. J. Parker, Ithaca, IS". Y. — There is a bed of mineral 

 manure, immense in size, a few miles from the farm of our friend 

 Geddes of Onondaga. I have often thought I would suggest that it 

 be made available ; especially as that wonderful wheat field of Mr. 

 Geddes, wliich for two generations seems so inexhaustible, is over it. 

 I mean the mixture of lime, gypsum, and the remnants of the action 

 of common salt on the gypsum, lime, and alumina, in the escape- 

 ments by the side of the railroad in the town of Camillus, and near 

 Marcellus, a few miles north of the farm of Mr. Geddes. He, if I 

 mistake not, has often spoken of these deposits of the "Onondaga 

 Salt Group" as the scource of the fertility in his farm. Why not 

 estabhsh mills, grind these millions of tons of material, fertilizers 

 now lying idle, and at a reasonable value sell them, for the purpose 



