AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 165 



200 pounds of burned gypsum contains as much sulphuric acid as 

 252 pounds of unburned plaster. 

 256 pounds of sulphate of potash. 

 208 pounds dry sulphate of soda. 

 470 pounds sulphate of soda, crystallized. 

 360 pounds sulphate of magnesia, crystallized. 



Sulphate of lime will benefit red clover much more than white. The red 

 contains more lime and more potash than the white. 



6. Nitrates of potash and soda. These two substances are very effica- 

 cious in agriculture. As the practical farmer well knows, they are abun- 

 dant in nature, and when put on land increase the growth of plants, and 

 add to the weight of hay and straw. It gives hay a fine flavor, which is 

 eaten greedily by farm stock. It produces great tops on potatoes, but 

 ■ injures the growth of the tubers. If the land is rich, it becomes injurious 

 by increasing the growth of stra,w at the expense of the grain. In all cases 

 it increases the growth of the stem, and produces woody fibre to the injury 

 of the crop. Therefore, never use these nitrates where there is a deficient 

 nourishment to produce straw. Nitrate of soda will improve turnips five 

 tons to the acre, by the application of one and a half hundred weight. 



One acre of land, dressed with ten loads of stable manure, produced 25 

 cwt. of turnips. With fourteen bushels of bones and fourteen bushels of 

 ashes, 29 cwt. of turnips. With one hundred weight of nitrate of soda, 30 

 cwt. of turnips. 



On land out of condition these nitrates will invariably be found benefi- 

 cial ; on land in condition, rarely so. Whenever your plants are feeble 

 and pining, dress them with nitrate of soda, and you will be astonished at 

 their rapid recovery. The critical period in a plant's growth, as well as 

 in an animal's, is at an early stage of its existence. Two hundred pounds 

 of di-y nitrate of soda contains thirty-five pounds of nitrogen, and nitro""en 

 is an absolutely necessary constituent of plants, which they extract almost 

 entirely from the soil. 



Plants require for their proper development, a large supply of inorganic 

 matters. Therefore the farmer is more apt to be successful in the raising 

 of crops by the use of mixed manures, instead of depending upon any single 

 substance, unless he knows through the medium of analysis, what the 

 single matter required is. All barn-yard manures contain certain portions 

 of saline matters, each of which specially aff"ects the crops ; consequently, 

 the growth and production must be ascribed to the joint action of them 

 all. Nitrate and sulphate of soda mixed together and applied to potatoes 

 or grain, will produce a much better efi"ect than either separately. 



Wood ashes affect leguminous plants in a wonderful manner, particularly 

 if applied ih repeated doses of three or four bushels to the acre ; but if in 

 large quantities at a time, exhaustion of the soil takes place, unless it pos- 

 sesses a large quantity of vegetable or animal matter. Their immediate 

 effect may be hastened by adding a small quantity of carbonate of soda, 

 crude potash or salt to the dry ashes, because they contain imperfectly 



