Year: 1869

cal effects Of potash and soda in this res
,pect, l would just mention that, whereas
you can wash out chloride Of sodium with
water from substance like the root of the
mangold, or the leaf Of the beet-root, or
the stalk Of wheat, or, from grasses, you
cannot remove potash so as to- show Its
presence simply by the mechanical process
of washing you cannot provo its existence.
before you have incinerated the plaut, de-
stroycd its organic structure. and thus res
obtrined tho potash in the ash. 1t has, in
fact, entered into an organic combination,
from which it cannot be removed by the
mere mechanical process Of washing. On
tone Of tho experimental plots of the Escrick
Park used mineral superphosphatc alone,
and, to my astonishment, no effect what
ever was produced by its application. This
is an interesting result, seeming, as it does,
to indicate that the great deficiency of pot
ash, which is characteristic Of the soil in
that experimental field. entirely prevented
the display of the usual functions which
we know perfectly well superphosphate of
lime discharges on land of a better char
acter than that at Escrick. The super
phosphate Cor, rather, the phosphoric acid)
in that manure did not act, simply because
potash was not present to form part of the
substance of the clover plant. You can, l
think, readily understand that. Place be-
fore man all the dry food which tends to
entice the appetite, and at the same time
withhold from him drink, and you will
find that he cannot assilnilate the dry food
You may give him every description of dry
food that can tempt him to eat, but if you
keep from him for any long time that un-
important substance, as We are too apt to
consider it-though it is, in fact, a most
essential thing g-water, he will ultimately
perish Potash is non-essential as regards
many clay soils, because many clay soils
contain abundance Of fpotash; but it Is most
essential on poor sandy soils, because, gen.
orally speaking, these soils are very def
cient in the necessary amount Of potash
which is required to bring clover crops,
and may also say root crops, to perfec.
tion.~ The mixture Of potash, salts, and
superphosphatc, yielded the largest weight
of clover and rye grass, per acre, which
was obtained on any of the experimental
plots Further, it was astonishing to no
tice that not only was the weight of the
first cutting larger In the case of this par.
ticular plot than on any of the others, bu


the second cutting also yielded much lar.
ger quantity. Let me give you the actua


figures as respects the produce on thes'
particular plots, With no manure what
ever the soil yielded per acre of fresh clio


yer tons, cwt 40 lbs. Thus there wa


actully rather smaller result, but theI
you must make allowance for variations o


soil in the field, and avoid thinking to-
much Of small differences of results. Prac


ticalIy speaking, the produce was the sam


in the case of the plot manured with super
phosphate as that in the plot which had n


manure The extent of these plots wa


1-20th Of an acre in each case, but til


yield is calculated at so much per acre


Well, muriate of potash gave 0 tons, Il
cwt % lbs showing great increase O


produce above that of the uulnanured pnr


ton Of the field. i..'" rus .tp i-f.' "i


p'a TO BE CONTINUED. frf -Hi