No. 129.] 305. 



What Mr. Riggs has stated of the great strawberry is not to be 

 doubted, and I implicitly believe it. 



Professor Mapes — For irrigating purposes, a pump has been 

 invented by Mr. Carr, with which one man can lift (and drive 

 through a gutta perchapipe) water twenty feet high from any 

 spring or other supply — as for instance from a hogshead sunk in 

 the low ground. In such a hogshead put some guano, and then 

 pump and sprinkle over the land. 



The idea of restoring to the soil all that grows on it as neces-' 

 sary to retain its fertility, is a mistake. Clover for instancej 

 takes carbon from the atmosphere and solidifies it, takes from 

 the land a portion of its inorganic constituents. So that when 

 we examine by analysis we find what a moderate amount of these 

 go to the plant, while the carbonaceous portion is large. This 

 word is equivalent to the word charcoal. Now this is from burnt 

 or charred vegetable matter, and is as perfectly charred by the 

 natural process of decay or by what Liebig calls eremacansis 

 slow ccnihustion. The farmer wants but one name for all this and 

 that should be carbonaceous matter — and this constitutes ninety 

 per cent, of all dry vegetable matter. 



It is indispensable to return to the land the whole of the inor- ' 

 ganic matter carried off, as well as a portion of the organic. 

 The atmosphere is the great laboratory whence vegetation is sus- 

 tained. Soil should be of a dark color in order to imbibe heat. 

 If land should be covered with white, the crop would be very 

 poor. 



Mr. Silliman — I have expended much in the purchase and ap> 

 plication of manure on my farm. I have used leached ashes and 

 pure ashes. The former contains some of the valuable inorganic 

 matters. 



Chairman — Sulphate of soda, potash, and spent ley are impor- 

 tant as fertilizers and nearly equal in value. 



Prof. Mapes — Our print works throw away a large amount of 

 the sulphate of soda. It ought to be saved for the soil. 



Chairman — Is there any manganese in it ? 

 [Assembly, No. 129.] 29 



