THE farmp:r's magazine 



403 



taiued bones, in a soluble state. lie had watched the action 

 of manures in the county of Sussex, where also he bad a very 

 large connection, and he had found that for root crops the de- 

 mand in almost every iust>>nce was for bone manure, with an 

 addition of one cwt. per acre of guano ou the weaker soils. 



Mr. Marsh (Sandwich, Kent) said, having sold a great deal 

 of manure, besides having been a fanner for many years, he 

 could fully bear out Mr. Purser's observations. Where he 

 had of late sold otie ton of guino lie had sold three or four 

 tons of superphosphate of lime. He sold a great deal of 

 manure in the neighbourhood of Dover, and any gentleman 

 who hhdseen the hills in that locality must feel how enormous 

 would be the expense of carting ordinary manure in that part 

 of the country. He had there found that a mixture of a small 

 quantity of guano with superphosphate was the best manure 

 that could be applied for turnips. 



Mr. J. C. Nesbit said, he wished to make a few observa- 

 tions ou this subject, especially as it was one which he had to 

 8ome extent studieJ. Iq the application of guaoo they must 

 have regard uot only to the mo:1e of application and to the 

 roots for which it was to be applied, but also to the quality of 

 the soil. The quality of the soil often made a very great dif- 

 ference as regarded the result. He thought that every prac- 

 tical farmer present would acknowledj'e that, as a general rule, 

 guano was ranch more valuable in soils which were deScient 

 in organic matter than in soils naturally rich in that material, 

 or which had received, by feediug sheep or cattle, large quanti- 

 ties of oilcake, and other similar matters, and which had been 

 cultivated for a considerable time. Upon poor soils guano 

 acted most powerfialy, not only yielding an iocrease of fifty to 

 one hundred per cent, in the root crop, but also leaving a large 

 amount of ammoniacal matter undecomposed for the subse- 

 quent crops. The idea was pretty general that guano, if sown 

 in a dry state, would not act. They need not, however, be 

 particularly alara-.ed about any loss in their fields arising from 

 drought, or even from moisture, though the former might affect 

 the particular crop to which the guaao was applied. They 

 might lose as regarded a particular crop, but the guano would 

 still be in the soil, available for the next crop. As to the 

 effects of moisture, he had in two or three cases analyzed 

 specimens of tie cargoes of guano vessels which had been 

 wrecked. In the case of a wreck which occurred near Liver- 

 pool, the cargo was subjected to the influence of the tide for 

 five or six days, and on examining some of it he found that it 

 had only lost two per cent, of its ammonia. In another case, 

 which occurred at Falmouth within the last two months, a 

 vessel, with 2,400 tons of guano on board, havin» sunk in five 

 fathoms of water, some of the manure was dredged up, and 

 sent to hira for analysis, and it gave 13i per cent, of ammonia. 

 Guano, on the average, contained 16 per cent, of ammonia ; 

 and in the first case which he had mentioned the loss was 

 only 2 per cent , and in the second 2^ per cent. With re- 

 gard to the application of guano for root crops, it would, he 

 believed, be found beit to unite with it some other substance. 

 In a little work which he published some time ago, he re- 

 marked that, when guauo was used alone, it ought to be mixed 

 with four or five times its weight of some other matter. The 

 first time that he ever saw a field sown with guano was in 

 ]8i3. A friend of his, in Kent, then sowed twenty acres of 

 turnips with guano, and did not get a root, as the guano was 

 drilled with the seed, and killed it. Jf. was subsequently cross- 

 drilled, and a good crop was the result. My friend subsequently 

 altered his drill so as to deposit the manure about two inches 

 below the seed, and be then succeeded in getting good crojis. 

 The guano, however, was mixed with mould, or wood and peat 

 •sbea. He believed that, as a general rule, the best way of 



using guano for roots was to sow it broadcast, and to harrow 

 it in. If the ridge system were adopted, as was recommended 

 by Mr. Thomas, it ought to be broadcasted over, and then the 

 ridges formed (" No," from Mr. Thomas, of Lidliugton, and 

 Hear, hear.) He spoke in accordance with his observation. 

 He had seen it applied in that way, the ridges being 

 flattened, and the turnip seed drilled with superphosphHte 

 of lime; and he must say that, in his opinion, broadcssting 

 with guano, and drilling with superphosphate of lime, was 

 the best plan tliat could be adopted. There could be no 

 doubt that, for mangel wurzel, guano was preferable to 

 superphosphate; though, in that c*ee, he sh ,u!d recom- 

 mend the use of 6 cwt. of salt per acre. He would also 

 recommend that a certain proportion of some superphosphate 

 should be drilled in with the s-eed, and at least 5 cwt. 

 of guano broadcasted per acre. The effect of the super- 

 phosphate was to bring the plants earlier to the hoe ; and the 

 guano supplied the subsequent nourishment. If manure were 

 confiaed solely to the lines of the drills, the lateral roots did 

 not get their proper amount of nourishment. It could hardly 

 be necessary for him to refer to the u;e of guano for cereals. 

 Everyone knew that for them it was the best manure that 

 could be got. Ammonia must be had ; and there could be no 

 doubt that, even at present prices, guano was the cheapest 

 form in which ammonia could be obtained (Hear, hear). With 

 regard to rape, he had found that a fairly soluble super- 

 phosphate would do better than any other manure. It would 

 perhaps be recollected that about two years ago he lectured 

 to the club on the subject of superphosphate of lime. 

 On that occasion he was rather taken to task for main- 

 taining that the use of too large a quantity of soluble 

 phosphate of lime was undesirable for root crops. He 

 had been very much opposed in that view by many parties. 

 Now he would take this opportunity of stating that all the 

 experiments which he had made since, and all that he had 

 learned from others, confirmed him in the opinion which he 

 then e.xpressed against the use of too large quantity of 

 phosphates in a soluble state. In many parts of Norfolk, 

 Essex, and some other counties of the same geological 

 character, soluble phosphates might perhaps be used in con- 

 siderable proportions, without any great disadvantage ; but if 

 they went westward, to districts where there was a smaller 

 amount of calcareous matter in the soil, they would find 

 that those manures which contained a proper proportion of 

 insoluble phosphate bore away the palm. He might men- 

 tion that even at Hnlkham some experiments bad been tried, 

 the result of which was that the largest amount of roots 

 was produced by tlie manures containing the greatest pro- 

 portion of insoluble phosphates •, a manure which contained 

 nearly 28 per cent, of insoluble, and only G] per cent, of 

 soluble phosphate, produced the largest crop. One of the 

 most celebrated manure makers in tlie country came in only 

 seventh in the race. He bad thought it right to make this 

 statement, in order to show that the views which he before 

 expressed were not the result of mere hearsay, but were 

 formed from experience They had, he believed, been cor- 

 roborated wherever their correctness had been subjected to 

 a practical test. The insoluble phosphate if possible ought 

 to be fine bone. 



Mr. J. Howard said, having steu guano sown broad, 

 cast he must declare that he did not know a nastier job than 

 sowing it by hand, or an operation more likely to give 

 a man the cholera (laughter). He had also seen it ap- 

 plied with a machine, and having no interest in broadcast 

 machines, being neither a manufacturer nor a vendor of Ihera, 

 he must declare his belief that as regarded equability of dis. 



