340 Obfervathm en Manures. 



II. 



Obfervations on the various Kinds of Manure. By JoBlf MlDBLETQN, Efq.* 



H. 



.AVI NG made experiments with various kinds of manure, on 'a ferm of which I am 

 the owner and occupier, fituated at Merton in Surrey, for the purpofe of afcertaining the 

 moft appropriate drefllng for the foil, which is a tenacious loam, on a fubftratum ap- 

 proaching towards yellow clay. I am induced, by the regard I feel for the fuccefs of BritHh 

 agriculture, to requefl: that you will be fo obliging as to lay the following obfervations on the 

 feveral experiments before the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufadtures, and 

 Commerce, for their confideration. I hope and believe that they will be found not altogether 

 unworthy their attention. 



1. Peat-ajhes from Newbury, Berks. Of thefe afhes I have fpread, in various quantities 

 per acre, 1500 bufliels on wheat tares, feeds, and meadow-land, without being able to difcover 

 any beneficial efFedt from them. 



2. Coal-ajhes, fpread on three or four acres of grafs-land, in March, 1798, produced no 

 rifible efFeft at mowing time, nor have \ftnce obferved any. 



3. fVood-aJheSy the produce of my own fires, when fpread on the grafs in February, or 

 early in March, I have found to be of fome, though little, fervice. 



4. Malt-duji^ including the duft from the malt-kilns, I ufed for two or three years to an 

 extent fufKciently great to afcertain that the benefits produced by the ufe of it are confider- 

 able. It may be applied in fuch a quantity as to enfurc one large crop; but on meadow-land, 

 even when hay is at five pounds a ton, it only repays the prime coft. 



The quantity which I have ufually laid on has been in proportion of from fifty to fixty 

 bufhels per acre. The firft coat of kihi-duft is fixpence, and of fmaller duft eight pence per 

 bufhel : including the expence of carriage, and fpreading this dreffing on the land, it amounts 

 to about two guineas per acre. The extra crop returned me this fum,but without profit. 



5. Soot. Of this manure I fpread eight hundred bufhels over twenty acres of wheat in one 

 year ; but I could not, from the fubfequent appearance of the crop, difcover whether the in- 

 creafe in quantity was equivalent to the additional expence. However, it was evidently of, 

 fome ufe ; but to what extent would require more than bare infpciSion to afcertain. By way 

 of comparifon, fome of the ridges were left without foot: they were at harveft fcarcely to be 

 diftinguifhed from the reft ; but where the foot lay in larger quantity than prdinary, as was 

 the cafe in the places at which the loads had been dot from the carts, the fuperior vegetation 

 was very diftindly marked. I have, on the whole, formed the fame opinion with refpeft to 

 this fpecies of manure as I have already ftated in regard to malt-duft, namely, that it returns 

 the coft price with very little profit. 



• Society of Arts, 1799. p. Z3i, addrcfled to the Secretary. 



6. Soap- 



