92 



DISEASES OF CROPS. 



amount of moistm-e for their growth and development 

 all meadows and pasture lands should he well drained. 

 " Wherever there is moisture, even if soil be almost ab- 

 sent, mosses will grow ; and they are the first to cover a 

 barren coast, as they are the last to linger when the 

 atmosphere ceases to be capable of affording nourishment 

 to vegetation " (Dr. E. Smith, r.R.S.). (2) The growth of 

 mosses also indicates a want of good cultivation, especially 

 in the use of the most suitable manures for grass lands. 



Cure. — (1) The author has shown {Journal Chemical 

 Society, 1886, p. 114) that iron sulphate destroys moss ^ 

 infesting pasture lands. After having applied a top-dress- 

 ing of iron sulphate to the land, the grass turned black 

 after the first rainfall, but in a fortnight became a bright 

 green colour, and the moss was destroyed. The bright 

 green appearance never altered in the least throughout 

 the smnmer, although the summer (1885) was rather a dry; 

 one. The above grasses and mosses gave the following 

 percentages of iron oxide in their ashes : — 



The analysis of the ashes of the moss plants after thi; 

 addition of iron sulphate shows the percentage of iron 

 oxide is 11'5G. "The moss, being of a greedy, thirsty 

 nature, took up more than was good for it, and, like somi; 

 human beings who do the same, came to an untimely end.'' 

 In a paper published in the Chemical Ncics (vol. 50 p. lOS], 



