34 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Fi:i;iu-AnY 9, 10 IS. 



be taken to conserve it so as to avoid waste of its 

 valuable ijualities. 



As jTAe Fuila article indicates, t'armyanl manure 

 performs two ilistinct functions: it provides material 

 which acts, more or less directly, as food for the crop, 

 and it exerts certain beneficial effects upon ih(J soil. 

 The foraier of these functions can be fultilled to a very 

 large extent b\ artificial manures, but the function of 

 soil amelioration is largely confined to farmyard manure, 

 or to the somewhat similar substances employed by 

 way of 'green dressings'. The provision of decaying 

 vegetable matter, to form what is familiarly spoken of 

 as humus, is recognized to be essential to the produc- 

 tion of fertile fields,and itis also acknowledged that this 

 provision is even more necessary in the tropics than 

 in temperate regions, on account of the rapidity with 

 which humus decays and disappears under tropical 

 conditions of heat and moisture. 



At the present moment the difficulty of the West 

 Indian planter lies in the tact that he is unable to 

 obtain those quantities of artificial manures which 

 practice has informed him to be desirable for supple- 

 •menting the farmyard manure commonly used. 



It is quite true that the employment of artificial 

 manures is often regarded both in Kngland and in the 

 •colonies as evidence of scientific agriculture, and so it is 

 to a certain extent: it may be tnie also, that the undue 

 or w;isteful use of these manures often characterizes 

 I he less skilful plantei, whose practical experience may 

 not have kept pace with his theoretical ideas, but it 

 cannot be said that scientific workers who ha\ e had 

 much experience in the tropics underrate the value 

 of farmyard manure, or advise planters to neglect its 

 -use in favour of artificials. 



'The other point,' says Tic, Field, upon which 

 a division c)f opinion is prol^ble is the influence of the 

 ration upon the fertilizing value of thi' dung. .Science 

 appears to be changing its view in respect to this 

 question. It has been suggested that existing beliefs 

 concerning the fertilizing properties of luamu'e made 

 from stock fed liberally with meals and cikc are not 

 JHstified by actual results. 'I'he evidenct; upon which 

 this tar- reaching pronouncement is based has not yet 

 been made known, but should this plea be seriously 

 advanced, a .sharp contlii.t with pr.ictic.il experience is 

 assured. Farmei's, who had the suppoi-t of early 

 s';ientists and many still living, hold decided views 

 on the \alue of high fi'<'ding a.s a source of .soil fertility, 

 and, as a matter of fact, the whole system of farming is 

 leased upon the .icceptance of this principle. There 



are not a few who believe that the present estimate is 

 founde<l upon too generous a scale, but science will 

 tackle a dittiLinlt problem if it should now set OMt to 

 disprove whi". its earlier exponents and successive 

 generations of competent farmers established as a 

 t'undamcutal condition in good hu.'^bandry.' 



This question receives much less consideration, in 

 the West Indies than io does in Britain; it is perhaps 

 a pity that it does so, fjr a fuller perception 'if the 

 points at issue would lead to more careful conservation 

 of the farmyanl manure produced upon estates. 



There is one point in connexion with the use of 

 liirmyard manure which may perhaps be worth raising 

 at this point, and that is, the value of farmyard ijianure 

 as a means whereby certain necessary beneficial bac- 

 teria are conveyed to the soil. It is probable that the 

 beneficial effect of farmyard manure is largely influenced 

 by the manner and the rate at which it undergoes 

 change in the soil. The changes are, doubtless, largely 

 caused by certain bacteria which have the property 

 of decomposing the cellulose of the tissues of the 

 \egetal)le matter existing in the manure. The 

 necessary bacteria exist in the alimentary tract of the 

 animals producing the manure, and continue their 

 functions in the manure heap and in the field. In 

 this way they help to render more immediately useful 

 the tissues contained in the litter which forms a laro-o 

 part of most farmyard uianure and the vegetable 

 matter from oiher sources which is added to the soil. 

 In this connexion the suggestion has been made that 

 probably the addition of small quantities of farmyard 

 manure, with its attend.mt bacteria, to the .soil at the 

 same time that green dressings are applied, will 

 prove useful, the idea beiuL; that, in the •■vent 

 of there being a deficiency of these organisms in 

 the soil, the green dressing will only become avail- 

 able Ht a slow rate, and so may fail in its efficiency, 

 where.as the addition of the required bacteria may 

 spneil the process of decay, ami .so hasten and incivase 

 the activity of the green dressing. 



It is jM'oh.ibly on account of this bacterial action 

 til it plantei s prefer, when possible, to put the extra 

 maleiial m the way of bush, grass, and the like, into 

 the pens to iiiinglc with the farmyard manure, rather 

 than t'l bury ii directly in the land. It would be 

 a useful ma'jter for experiment, to deteruiine whether 

 similar useful action will go on in the field it additions 

 of farmyard m.mure are a<lded to green dressings. If 

 this is the case, it m.ay possibly lead to an increased 

 u.se of the practice of green dressing, which appears to 

 be st;ffering some neglect. 



