162 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



to six tons of guano) per acre. This was a stock of wealth which would repay the most 

 active measures being taken for its release and distribution. — British Fanner. 



In a lecture before the Massachusetts Legislative Agricultural Society, in the spring of 

 the present year, by Dr. A. A. Hayes, of Boston, substantially the same views were ex- 

 pressed. Dr. Hayes has found, by experiment, that the quantity of ammonia contained in 

 the majority of the soils of New England is very great, far beyond what is generally sup- 

 posed. In the state in which it exists, however, it is unavailable for fertilizing purposes, 

 being combined with vegetable and organic acids, and forming neutral and insoluble salts. 

 In applying manures, therefore, to lands in this state, the object sought for it is to produce 

 b fermentation, or a chemical action, which will break up the ammonia compounds in the 

 soil, and render them available for the support of vegetation. 



The type of manures best calculated to effect this is dried blood or animal matter, which, 

 under nearly all circumstances, when exposed to ordinary temperatures and moisture, fer- 

 ments most powerfully. — Editor of Agricultural Year-Book. 



Use of Nitrate of Soda as a Fertilizer. 



The Royal (English) Agricultural Society having offered a prize for a manure equal to 

 guano, at a cost of £5 a ton, Mr. Pusey has shown that the conditions are satisfied by nitrate 

 of soda, and at a charge less than that specified. lie says, in illustration, that forty-six 

 acres of land, if cropped with barley, and dressed with seventeen hundredsweight of nitrate, 

 would vield an increase of eighty sacks beyond the quantity usually obtained. A cargo of 

 this fertilizer was brought to England in 1820, but for want of a purchaser, was thrown 

 overboard. A second importation took place in 1830; and from that date up to 1850, the 

 quantity brought from Peru, where the supply is inexhaustible, was two hundred and thirty- 

 nine thousand eight hundred and sixty tons ; value, £5,000,000. With the price reduced to 

 £8 a ton, Mr. Pusey observes — "Our farmers might obtain from their own farms the whole 

 foreign supply of wheat, without labor, and with but a few months' outlay of capital. I do 

 not mean to say that no failures will yet occur before we obtain a complete mastery over this 

 powerful substance ; but I am confident that, as California has been explored in our day, so 

 vast a reservoir of nitrogen — the main desideratum for the worn-out fields of Europe — can- 

 not be left within a few miles of the sea, passed almost in sight by our steamers, yet still 

 nearly inaccessible, at the foot of the Andes." 



Experiments with Manures. 



Fhom the Report of the Superintendent of the Model Farm of the Virginia and North 

 Carolina Union Agricultural Society, published in the •• Southern Fanner," we extract the 

 (ring results of some experiments on oat< with various manures: — 

 200 pounds of Peruvian guano gave 22 10 pounds of oats per acre, say 70 bushels. 

 2 pounds of De Burg's superphosphate of lime gave 1712 pounds, say 53J bushels. 

 'Zi'i pounds bone-dust gave li>7»> pounds, say ~>-\ bushels. 



An acre without any manure gave 1 L40 pound-, say 3o| bushels. 



On another portion of the field, which contained 30 acres, where the soil was of "a slightly 

 lighter texture," 100 pounds of Peruvian guano gave K72 pounds per acre, say 62 bushels. 



Is:', pounds of Chilian guano gave SOU pounds, say 26 Ini-hels. 

 KM) pounds Of Mexican guano gave Uli'i pounds, Say •• S A bushels. 



Experiments made lasl Beason with artificial manures on carrots, on the state Farm of 

 Massachusetts, gave the following results. She manure was apportioned according to its 



cost, each acre being dressed with twelve dollars' worth: — 



Ban raid manure tM pounds per acre. 



Ouaoo BfiO •• 



P .-I, 628 " 



l>< Bors/i superphosphate of lime ,r ' s " " " 



Mapes's improved ditto SW " " 



Reservoir manure 540 " " 



