THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



517 



permit me to throw out a hint for all who take an interest 

 in practical experiments, and that is, to test the natural 

 capabilities of the soil by making two experiments witli 

 nothing. You will observe that in these experiments sul- 

 phate of ammonia had no effect upon the root crop at all ; 

 • if anything it diminished the produce. I was not a little 

 surprised in obtaining this result, expecting as I did that 

 the ammonia would force on the crop. We are in the habit 

 of connecting the rapid starting of the crop with the presence 

 of ammonia in the soil on the manure: we call ammonia a 

 forcing element, but certainly in relation to the young 

 swede it cannot be so called ; it does not force on the 

 seed, but rather retards the germination. In all these 

 experiments I find that the least you do artificially by 

 using various salts or guano, or even super-phosphates, 

 the more rapidly the seed germinates ; aud hence it 

 follows likewise that it is desirable not to put the seed in 

 direct contact with the artificial manure, and, if possible, to 

 apply farm-yard manure in the autumn ; at least, this should 

 be done in heavy land ; the manure then haa time to diffuse 

 itself throughout the soil, and you do not get tho3e injurious 

 effects which are produced when you put the seed iuto a part 

 of the soil which is too highly manured, which it necessarily 

 will be if the manure has not had tioie to diffuse itself through- 

 out it. And even with the application of artificial manures I 

 cannot help thinking that iu many instancas it would be more 

 useful to apply them wi*.h the broad-cast distributor than 

 drilling immediately with the seed. At least I have heard 

 many excellent practical farmers expressing themselves to this 

 effect. I merely throw this out as a matter of report made to 

 me, and not as advocatiug either the one or the other method 

 of applying artificial manure. Guano more especially retards 

 germination of turnip seeds, and I have no doubt iu my own 

 mind that it is the large amount of ammonia ia guano that 

 produces this undesirable effect ; but I have not found in my 

 experiments that super-phosphates hasten the germination of 

 the seed. When the young plant is up, then readily available 

 food in the soil is of the greatest utility, and the turnip grows 

 rapidly. Hence there is some truth in the observation that 

 super-phosphate pushes on the turnip crop, bringiug it out of 

 the reach of the turnip-fly ; but it does not facilitate the rapid 

 germiuatiou of the seed : it has rather a contrary effect. It 

 has been questioned by high authority whether the effect of 

 super-phosphate on root crops might not be due as much to the 

 sulphuric acid as to the phosphoric acid ; but you have here a 

 direct experiment which provei better than any theoretical 

 reasons the erroueousness of this view. With super-phosphate 

 alone, made from purely mineral phosphate, the natural pro- 

 duce of the land, amouutiug to tliree tons on the average has 

 been nearly trebled. In all experiments, in short, where phos- 

 phate has been used, the crop has very much increased ; 

 whereas when gypsum has been applied, no beuefit has resulted 

 from the application. I may add that last year I made another 

 series of experiments in which the same result has been brought 

 out : 



With nothing the produce was . . 6 tons 11 cwt. 2 qrs. 



With gypsum 6 13 3 



Wliereas super-phosphate without 



ammonia produced 10 17 



Iu all these experiments neither sulphuric acid applied in the 

 shape of gypsum nor ammonia has done any good. In an 

 experiment made on another part of the farm last year, I again 

 found that ammonia was of no utility. Thus sulphate of am- 

 monia applied to a field which uatuially yielded 6 tons 11 cwt., 

 produced 5 tons 6 cwt. 21lbs. — to some extent diminishing 

 the produce. It is certain that in these cases ammoniacal 



manures, like guano or compound turnip manure?, are to a 

 great extent misapplied, because the farmer loses the imme- 

 diate effect of the most expensive constituent of the manure. 

 But I am acquainted with other experiments in which guano 

 is of very great utility, aud produces a better effect than purely 

 mineral phosphatic manures. It remains to be seen what the 

 exact circumstauces are, under which we can dispeuse with 

 ammoniacal mauures, and also under what circumstances we 

 can dispense with phosphatic mauures for the cultivation of 

 root cropi : for I ihiiik that there are instances iu which even 

 superphosphate ia misapplied — in which superphosphate and 

 phosphatic manures as applied to root crops are of little prac- 

 tical utility. I should be extremely gratified if any instances 

 of practical failures with superphosphate were reported to me, 

 and portions of soil reserved for further examination, if such 

 should be found necessary. The question whether we can dis- 

 pense with the artificial supply of phosphates is a very impor- 

 tant one— next in importance to the one upon which I have 

 juat now dwelt — which awaits its practical solution, and will 

 no doubt fiud it v;hen we continue to institute experiments 

 with a distinct object in view, without reference to any imme- 

 diate result made with the vie* of explaiuing existing prac- 

 tices : it is only then that we can arrive at legitimate conclu- 

 sions. Experiments are frequently made very much in the 

 manner in which a student iu chemistry begins his researches 

 iu the laboratory. He tries certain bottles, and puts one fluid 

 with the other to see the result, and arrives at no practical 

 conclusion, because, in nine cases out of ten, he obtains, by 

 mixing four or five bottles together, a black dirty-looking 

 liquid : so, by jumbliug together all sorts of mauuring matters, 

 and trying to obtain from them any really useful practical 

 results, you do not obtain any from which legitimate conclu- 

 sions can be drawn. Thus, for instance, we frequently hear 

 of comparisons between guano and superphosphate ; but we 

 are not told what description of guano or of superphosphate 

 is takeu. You will see, by the diagram before me, that the 

 composition of superphosphate varies greatly. One, for in- 

 stance, contains only 5 per cent, of soluble phosphate, and 1 

 per cent, of insoluble ; while in another we have 23 per cent, 

 of soluble, and 5| per cent, of insoluble. Now, if you make 

 an experiment with super-phosphate aud guano, and you find 

 the gu^cno greatly beats the super-phosphate, you are not 

 entitled to say tliat phosphatic mauures are of no utility in 

 your particular case — that a mixture of ammonia aud phosphate 

 is much more valuable on your farm than phosphate alone; for 

 if you wdl look at the composition of guano, you will fiud that 

 in reality you apply a much larger quantity of phosphate than 

 you apply even in a fair average sample of super-phosphate 

 Tliis diagram, moreover, does not give the amount of phosphoric 

 acid which exists in alkaline salts, and which, in good Peruvian 

 guano, is equal to from 6 to 8 per cent, of soluble phosphate ; 

 so that, iu reality, guauo is super-phosphate plus ammonia. I 

 have no hesitation in saying, that in guano, very frequently, 

 more phosphates are incorporated with the laud, than with a 

 great many samples of super-phosphate as they are found in 

 the market : for a super-ph-jsphate is considered of good 

 average quality if it contains from 25 to 30 per cent, of 

 phosphates, of which about one-half is rendered soluble; but 

 in guano there is in reality quite as much, if not more, 

 phosphate present. Theu, again, experiments are frequently 

 made on land which is in a very highly cultivated state, which 

 is so full of manure that no amount of additional artificial 

 fertilizers can produce any effect. I have before me au accoun t 

 of some experiments which were published some time ago, 

 in all of which about the same quantity of roots was produced. 

 There is a remark, however, which throws some light upon 



