1922.] The Agricultural Value of Sea-Sand. 597 



These prices include in the ease of the sea-sand carriage to the 

 farm-yard, but with the lime and limestone, carriage to the 

 nearest railway station. Although the cost of the sea-sand and 

 that of the ground lime are almost identical it must be remem- 

 bered that equivalent amounts were not used and that the effect 

 of 4 tons of sea-?and may reasonably be expected to outlast that 

 of 10 cwt. of ground lime : in fact appearances seem to indicate 

 already that this is so. 



Farmers* Opinions. — The testimony of farmers in all parts 

 of the county as to the value of sea-sand is available and the 

 opinions of a few may be given. A dairy farmer near St. Ives, 

 wi^iting on 17th June of this year, says, " We have acres of 

 hay (' seeds ') of which we manured 3 acres with 7 J cwt. of 

 superphosphate mixed with an equal quantity of sea-sand and 

 we have the finest crop I have seen in this district. The J- acre 

 left had better treatment previously, but one could tell to a foot 

 where the mixture of sand and superphosphate went." A farmer 

 with a good soil near St. Columb writes: Sea-sand is being 

 used more freely now than 20 years ago. It is applied at the 

 rate of 4 to 10 tons per acre with artificial manures for turnips 

 and wheat. On land which has been ' sanded ' there is usually 

 a better growth of clover, and cattle graze more closely. I 

 applied eight loads per acre on permanent pasture in December, 

 1920, on a portion of a field. There was no appreciable differ- 

 ence in 1921 but in 1922 cattle showed a preference for the 

 sanded portion and are grazing it more closely. The cost is from 

 4s. to 5s. per cart-load here, brought by traction engine with 

 two trucks carrying about 16 tons." 



Farmers who are living near the coast are generally alive to 

 the value of sea-sand. Some, indeed, have used it to excess, 

 but those who live 8 or 10 miles or more from the sea, con- 

 sider the cost of the labour entailed in carting prohibitive. The 

 latter should remember that the greater the distance the more 

 . valuable, generally speaking, this material is, as the land has 

 already received sea-sand in inverse proportion to the miles to be 

 carried. 



Most farmers have observed the injurious effect of sea-sand 

 on the oat crop, especially on granite soils, and several state 

 that when " dredge corn " is sown after an application of sea- 

 sand the resultine crop is mainly barley and on the spots where 

 the heaps of sand stood there is frequently no oats at all. This 

 result is doubtless due to the effect of the lime in the sea-sand, 

 for similar effects are seen after the use of burnt lime, although 



