■102 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ten years, an admixture of salt with guano in the right pro- 

 portion was a. very jjreat advantage. During' the last two years 

 he had used au equal quantity of salt and guano, and he had 

 in consequence found lu3 produce considerably larger, and the 

 result more satisfactory in all respects than was the case before. 

 Perhaps on stiff and heavy clay land such a mode of applica- 

 tion might be open to objection ; but where the land was 

 porous an admi.xture was, in his opinion, very beneficial. 



Mr. J. Thomas (Lidlington Park, Ampthill) wished to make 

 a few remarks in reference to this subject. First, with regard 

 to the maxim cited by Mr. Coussmaker, that a farm ought, like 

 a joint of meat, to be basted with its own dripping. It was true 

 that under certain circumstances a farm should be left to pro- 

 vide its own manure ; but if by an application of extraneous ma- 

 nures it could be cultivated more profitably than without them, 

 it ought not to rest contented with the course of pro- 

 ceedings followed in reference to a joint of meat (Hear, 

 hear). It was a matter of calculation to the skilful 

 farmer how far any outlay upon foreign manures would be 

 recompensed by the return which he would obtain for that 

 outlay. (Hear, hear). He had no wish to enter at any length 

 upon the use of guano for corn crops, because the question 

 stated on the card had reference solely to root crops ; but this 

 might be laid down, he thought, as a general rule, that if hy 

 laying out £1 they could obtain £1 5s., the money would be 

 exceedingly well laid out ; whereas, if by laying out £1 they 

 could, in consequence of the low price of corn, only secure 

 153., the money would be very badly laid out. (Hear, hear). 

 If they expended an extraordinary amount of money in the 

 production of corn crops, it was, of course, in the hope of 

 being remunerated in the sale of the crops. They all knew 

 that when the market for manufactures was glutted, the manu- 

 facturers, instead of continuing production at the same rate as 

 before, made their operatives work short time till the market 

 was relieved ; and so with regard to corn crops, it was, he 

 thought, unwise in the as;riculturist to lay out his money to 

 increase his production when the market was already so 

 glutted that he had great difficulty in disposing of what he 

 had on hand. Dismissing, however, from his mind the sub- 

 ject of corn crops, he now approached the question on the 

 card, namely, " The advantages of gnano for root crops, and 

 the best system of applying it without injury to the germina- 

 tion of seed." The first point which occurred to him was the 

 portability of guano— a very important feature in its ap|)lica- 

 bility to the land. This enabled the farmer to scatter manure 

 over the farm at the minimum expense for carting. The 

 farm-yard manure might be applied nearest home with 

 half a dressing of light manures, while the more portable 

 manure was conveyed to a distance. As regarded the best 

 mode of applying guano for root crops, he should not speak 

 without the book, having been a very large consumer 

 of guano for many years. He had found it the greatest use 

 in the growth of mangel wurzel, and in Bedfordshire, where 

 the land had got so exceedingly sick of Swedish turnips that 

 they could scarcely rely upon them at all, it was becoming 

 more and more the practice every year to grow mangel wnrzel 

 upon lands which were formeily under ordinary circumstances 

 cultivated for the turnip crop. He would now tell them what 

 course was adopted thtre, and it was a course by which he 

 had never failed to obtain a large crop of mangel wurzel. He 

 always endeavoured to get his land into good tilth, and this 

 object he secured by means of Coleman's cultivator, which he 

 believed to be the best. Haviug the stetches made 27 inches 

 apart, he mixed two c vt. of guano with two c»t. of salt ; or 

 whatever u ight L^; the quantity of gnano, he used an equal 

 quantity of salt, ia order to prevent that distribution over the 



neighbjurhnod which had been mentioned by a preceding 

 speaker (Mr. Coussmaker). Whst he was now about to men- 

 tion might appear a very operose proceeding, but it was 

 always fully justified by the result. He set a man to sow the 

 mixture of salt and guano under hand, as it were, do^vu the 

 different stetches, in order that none of it might be carried 

 away by the wind. After that the stetches were reversed, 

 being rolled down with a heavy iron roller. Experience had 

 convinced him that the more solid the land could be made for 

 mangel wurzel, the more reliance they could place on the sub- 

 sequent crop, and the heavier would be the weight per acre. He 

 believed, that all who adopted this method of growing mangel 

 wurzel, using an equal quantity of salt with guano, sowing the 

 mixture under hand in the stetches, and afterwards reversing 

 the stetches, would secure a very large crop. He never used 

 any farm-yard manure for root crops, it having been shown by 

 the experiments of Liebig, Mr. Lawes, and Mr. Nesbit, that 

 when this fertilizer was used for crops of corn the phosphates 

 remained for the future crop of roots without being at all dete- 

 riorated. He trusted he should be excused for having stated 

 thus minutely his own practice — a practice which, he would 

 adJ, bad always resulted in success. (Hear, hear.) 



Mr. Harrison (Clifton Hampden, Oxon) felt compelled to 

 differ to some extent both from Mr. Saiusbury and from Mr. 

 Baker: 'rom the forhier, inasmuch as he advocated the appli- 

 cation of guano in its pure state to the soil, without mixing it 

 with any other ma'erial ; and from the latter, inasmuch as he 

 was ill favour of sowing it in its natural state broadcast. As 

 regarded Mr. Sainsbury's mode of apj lication, he thought that, 

 as guano Wis such a very powerful substance, there was great 

 danger of its killing the seed if brought in such close contact 

 with it ; while as resprctcd Mr. Baker's plan, he was of 

 opinion that, as guana was such a very expensive article, in- 

 stead of sowing it broadcast, they should fuJeavour to lower 

 the rate of cost by mixing it with other articles. His own plan 

 was to reduce by five or six times its natural weight, by mixing 

 it with sand or mould, and in that state to drill it ia with the 

 seed. He believed that, with the present price of the article, 

 that was the only mode of securing an adequate return. 



Mr. Sainsbuky wished to say one word in reference to 

 what they had just heard. He knew from experience that 

 guano could be applied unmixed with ashes without at all in- 

 juring the seed. One bushel of ashes to a cwt. of guano 

 might appear a small quantity; but it was, in fact, au ample 

 proportion : he had used it year after year. 



Mr. E PoKSER (New Bridge-street, Blackfriars) said they 

 had htard that evening the opinions of several practical far- 

 mers : he appeared before them as a dealer in and manufac- 

 turer of manures. They were a'l sgreed as to the value of 

 guano as a manure for root crops ; but, as a seller of manures, 

 his chief business from the mouth of April to the month of 

 June lay in superphosphates ; and he believed that for the 

 thinner and weaker soils superphosphates were extremely 

 valuable in comhii ation with guano. He was now giving them 

 the experience of his office with regard to operations extend- 

 ing over nineteen years. Year after year he found superphos- 

 phates in increasing demand for root crops, and for one ton of 

 guano he now sold three toni of superphosphate of lime. If 

 farmers used things that did not pay, it was not his fault ; 

 ai;d, on the other hand, he would not pretend to set up his 

 own experience against the practice of the gentlemen present. 

 He had a very extensive connection with Ireland ; and in that 

 country, where rain was nearly always falling, superphosphates, 

 as an addition to guano, were found invaluable. In i-hort, 

 these manures were making their way to a much greater extent 

 than the meeting appeared to have any idea of. They all con* 



