S12 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



But the price of these auxiliary manures is now so 

 high in comparison with the value of farm pi'oduce, 

 that farmers are dubious about applying them as 

 freely as in bygone seasons. 



The question as to the profitable application of 

 guano at its present price, as a top-dressing for the 

 cereal crops, does not admit of a general answer. 

 It depends on the condition of the land, and other 

 circumstances. On rich land the extra manure 

 may cause the crop to fall down, if the season be 

 wet; and the quality of the grain may be depre- 

 ciated without the quantity being increased : but 

 in the case of land that is well cleansed and in a 

 middling state of fertility, we believe that it may 

 still be applied with a fair chance of profit. Four 

 additional bushels of wheat or eight of oats may 

 reasonably be expected from each cwt. of guano. 

 This quantity of grain, with the fodder, may be 

 worth from twenty to twenty-five shillings; and as 

 the top-dressing, including labour, does not cost 

 more than fifteen shillings, the profit looks re- 

 spectable on paper. It seems high enough to 

 cover the climatic uncertainties, which the farmer 

 is taught by experience not to overlook in his cal- 

 culations. And the additional quantities of grain 

 and fodder do not show the entire profit that re- 

 sults from the use of the guano. In the upland 

 districts, two cwt. of guano per acre will make the 

 oat crop eight or ten days earlier, and this may 

 lead to a better harvested, as well as a better filled 

 and more productive crop. There is another marked 

 advantage in the more vigorous growth of ryegrass 

 and clover among wheat or oats which have been 

 top-dressed. On heavy land a free-growing clover 

 plant may soon get l)eyond the risk of serious 

 injury by slugs, when a weakly plant would be 

 destroyed. 



There have been loud complaints against the 

 Peruvian government and their agents, because 

 they have drawn up the price of guano to the 

 highest rate at which they can command a sale. 

 These complaints can be of no avail, and it is 

 futile to indulge in them. The Peruvian govern- 

 ment have virtually a monopoly ; and in exacting 

 the highest price which they can freely obtain, 

 they are merely doing what ether people would do 

 in similar circumstances. If the price of grain 

 continue to have a downward tendency the price 

 of guano must be lowered also, as the point may 

 soon be reached at which there can be little chance 

 of profit to the farmer from using it. But it is 

 lost labour to assail the monopolists, as some 

 people do, by advising farmers to abstain from 

 purchasing guano, as long as they expect to derive 

 profit from its use. 



One good result has followed the high price of 

 Peruvian guano. A stimulus has been given to 

 the manufacture of portable manures, and the at- 

 tention of many intelligent farmers has been di- 

 rected to experimental investigations as to their 

 value compared with guano. The manures that 

 are manufactured for top-dressing the cereal crops 

 are mainly nitrogenous and phosphatic compounds. 

 When these elements are awanting — as in the case 

 of the Economical Manure, analyzed by Dr. Ander- 

 son—the compound is simply worthless. Mr. 

 Townsend, Glasgow, Mr. Weir, Ayr, and other 



respectable manufacturers, sell by a guaranteed 

 analysis; and we think that farmers would act 

 wisely in giving their corn manures a trial. 



A very considerable quantity of superphosphate 

 of lime was used in Ayrshire last season as a top- 

 dressing for wheat and oats, and as far as we can 

 learn the results have been satisfactory. It is right 

 to remember, however, that the high temperature 

 of the summer of 185/ was very much in favour of 

 superphosphate. The experience of a cold, moist 

 season would be less favourable. 



Mr. Richmond made some interesting experi- 

 ments last year, on the farm of Burnton, near 

 Dalrymple, for the purpose of testing the value of 

 superphosphate as a corn manure, when combined 

 with nitrogenous manures in various proportions. 

 The manures were carefully weighed and mixed, 

 and sov/n each on a single ridge to a certain 

 number of yards from the end. The crop dressed 

 with each manure could thus be easily compared 

 with the crop on the remainder of the same ridge 

 which got no top-dressing whatever. An equal 

 money value was applied to each of the lots. The 

 manures were harrowed in with the seed about the 

 end of February. In making the experiments, 

 Mr. Richmond merely intended to examine the 

 crop carefully during its growth, and to form an 

 opinion from observation. If experiments are to 

 be followed to the barn floor, and brought to the 

 final test of weight and measure, they are not 

 worthy of much reliance unless they have been 

 made on a pretty large scale, and the work, from 

 first to last, has been conducted with care and pre- 

 cision. But to the practised eye of the observant 

 farmer, a small experiment may be valuable if he 

 have the opportunity of seeing the crop during its 

 growth. 



Mr. Richmond's experiments seemed to point 

 unmistakably to the propriety of putting a consi- 

 derable proportion of phosphate into manures for 

 wheat. The crops at Burnton, as at Craigie, 

 refuse to admit to the Rothamsted axiom — "Am- 

 monia for corn, phosphorus for turnips." It is 

 plain enough that in Ayrshire both crops are bene- 

 fited by both manures. 



In the experiments at Burnton, equal weights of 

 sulphate of ammonia and superphosphate gave a 

 better crop than two parts sulphate and one part 

 superphosphate, while both lots were decidedly 

 superior to sulphate alone or superphosphate alone. 

 Peruvian guano alone gave a good crop ; but equal 

 weights of guano and superphosphate were about 

 as good, and two parts guano and one part super- 

 phosphate were superior to either. Again, equal 

 weights of muriate of ammonia and superphosphate 

 were appreciably superior to two parts of muriate 

 and one part of superphosphate, and both were 

 very much superior to muriate alone or superphos- 

 phate alone. The lot dressed with equal weights 

 of muriate aud superphosphate was the best of the 

 whole. Equal weights of sulphate and superphos- 

 phate gave the second best, and two parts guano 

 and one part superphosphate the third best crop. 

 When we made our inspection and took notes in 

 August, these lots, at the 'termination of the top- 

 dressing, stood up like the step of a stair above the 

 wheat that had not been top-dressed. The wheat 



