428 



The Country Gcntlcuuvis Magazine 



%\\t Jjavm, 



MANURING FOR GREEN CROPS. 



THERE is an old Scottish adage, and a some years, or even one year or two years, 



true one, that " muck is the mither o' and oil-cake and turnips fed on the field, good 



the meal kist." To the ears of many of our potatoes may be raised with artificials alone, 



readers this proverb may not fall with the same On some farms this system of husbandry is 



significance as it does in Scotland, where the the best. The land is thoroughly cleaned 



"meal kist " may, without stretching a parallel, after having lain in pasture, by takmg a green 



vie almost with the roast beef of old England crop ; wheat follows the potatoes, and a crop 



in supplying the bone and muscle of her sons. 

 And Ave feel assured that the penates of the 

 Roman matron of old were not worshipped 

 with a greater reverence than the " meal kist " 

 is by the thrifty housewife of the north. Ac- 

 cording to our proverb the meal kist is the child 

 and muck is the parent. We propose to give 

 our views on the preparation of, and applica- 

 tion of farm-yard manure — the essential for 

 all good husbandry. Since the introduction 

 of guano and other artificial manures far 

 greater facilities have been given for enlarg- 

 ing the breadth of land under green crop, 



of oats can be grown after the wheat, instead 

 of coming immediately after the grass. 

 Most leases have a clause forbidding two 

 consecutive white crops; but that clause was 

 very properly introduced long ago, when 

 guano, sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda 

 were unknown, and the high farming of the 

 present day was but a dream. We propose 

 to offer a few remarks on the comparative 

 advantages of autumn application of dung 

 on the stubble, as compared with dung 

 given in the drill in spring. First of all, we 

 would state that on farms where a large 



and also of adding very much to the bulk of breadth of potatoes is grown, 

 the cereal, and thereby increasing the manu- 

 rial resources for next crop. On many 

 farms, where railways have opened up an easy 

 means both for supply and marketing of pro- 

 duce, the quantity of manure must be very 

 largely increased, when compared with for- 



stubble 

 manuring is a necessity ; but in our experience 

 we should not recommend one acre more to 

 be manured in autumn than is absolutely 

 necessary in order to have the work well 

 forward in spring. There is a common say- 

 ing, that doctors differ, but they cannot differ 



days, when these farms were entirely more in their opinions than farmers, who 



self-supporting, and it required years to re- 

 cover from a failure either in the turnip or 

 cereal crop. On most farms in East Lothian 

 (large as the quantity is), nearly the whole of 

 the farm-yard manure is applied to the potato 

 crop, for experience has taught farmers 

 that large crops of every variety of turnips 

 can be grown with artificial manures alone ; 

 potatoes cannot be raised with success unless 

 good farm-yard dung is applied as the foun- 

 dation for the crop. There may be excep- 

 tions to this rule — where pasture has lain for 



most invariably give flat contradiction to each 

 other on most practical subjects. Nothing 

 could illustrate this better than the evidence 

 given in the law courts of Edinburgh, on an 

 important agricultural law case some two 

 years ago. Many farmers assert that the 

 best crops of potatoes are grown after stubble 

 manuring, and we admit this result may be 

 possible, from some peculiarity of the season, 

 the quality of the manure applied in the 

 autumn, or the nature of the soil. But 

 \i any farmer will carefully repeat the same 



