Prunings as Fertilizer.

Is orchard and vineyard brush worth enough as a fertilizer to pay for cutting or breaking and putting back on the land?

We should say not.  It takes too much labor to put it in any form to promote decay, and is even then too indestructible.  It is also possible that its decay may induce root rot of trees.  We should burn the stuff and spread the ashes.  Vineyard prunings are more promising because more easily and quickly reduced by decay.  Vinecane-hashers have been proposed from time to time, but we do not know anyone who long used them.

Gypsum on Grain Land.

Is there any profit in sowing gypsum on grain land, say on wheat or oat crop?  At what stage should it be applied and in what quantity?

It would have a tendency to make the surface more friable and therefore better for moisture retention, and it could be used at the rate of 1000 pounds to the acre, broadcasted before plowing for grain.  As our soils are, however, usually well supplied with lime, there is a question whether there would be any profit in the use of gypsum, for, aside from lime, it contains no plant food, although it does act rather energetically upon other coil contents.  Gypsum is a tonic and not a fertilizer from that point of view.  The best way to satisfy yourself of its effect would be to try a small area, marked so as you could note its behavior as compared with the rest of the field.

Gypsum and Alfalfa.

What is gypsum composed of?  Is it detrimental to land in future years?  Have the lands of California any black alkali in them?  I notice my neighbors who sow gypsum on their alfalfa get a very much better yield of hay than those who do not.

Gypsum is sulphate of lime.  It is not detrimental to the land in after years except that its action is to render immediately available other plant foods and this may render the land poorer — not by the addition of anything that is injurious but by the quicker using up of plant food which it already contains.  Black alkali is very common in California in alkali lands.  In lands which show their quality by good cropping, there is no reason to apprehend black alkali nor to use gypsum to prevent its occurrence.  The use of gypsum does stimulate the growth of alfalfa and makes its product greater just as you observe in the experience of your neighbors, but the more they use up the land now the less they will have later, unless they resort to regular fertilization to restore what has been exhausted.  But even that may be a good business proposition.

What Gypsum Does.

I intend to fertilize alfalfa and should like to know about gypsum.  I have heard it stimulates the growth temporarily but in three or four years hurts the land.  I have heavy land.