92 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



" In order that the more temporary, or more 

 rapidly acting means of increasing the produce 

 of meadow land, may have their full effect, the 

 more permanent means of amelioration that 

 may be required — such as draining, marling, 

 liming, and the like — must not be neglected. The 

 application of bones is not recommended for ge- 

 neral adoption. They appear to be chiefly adapted 

 to the exhausted pastures of certain localities, 

 and not to be generally applicable to meadow 

 land which is mown for hay. The hay crop is a 

 great exhauster of the mineral constituents of 

 the soil; and these, owing to the high price of 

 salts of potash, cannot, with profit, be fully re- 

 stored in artificial manures. The return of the 

 mineral constituents is better accomplished by 

 means of farmyard manure, stable dung, night 

 soil, and the like ; which, at the same time, bring 

 on to the land a more or less considerable quan- 

 tity of available nitrogen. The best 'artificial' 

 manures for grass land are — Peruvian guano, 

 which is rich in phosphates as well as nitrogen ; 

 and nitrate of soda, and sulphate of ammonia, 

 which are rich in nitrogen, but contain, of course, 

 no phosphates. Peruvian guano, when used alone, 

 may be employed at the rate of from \\ to 2^ 

 cwts. per acre; nitrate of soda alone, or sulphate 

 (or muriate) of ammonia, at the rate of 1^ to 2 

 cwts. per acre. The salts of ammonia are, how- 

 ever, relatively too expensive to be employed 

 largely with profit; and both ammoniacal salts 

 and nitrate of soda are more advantageously used 

 in combination with guano. A very generally 

 used top-dressing for the hay crop may be made 

 of 3 parts Peruvian guano, 1 part nitrate of soda, 

 and 1 part sulphate of ammonia. Of this mixture, 

 2 to 2i cwts. per acre may be employed. With this 

 appUed annually, and the application of 10 or 12 

 tons per acre of poor rotton dung once every 

 four or five years, a good crop of hay may be 

 taken oflF every year, without injury to the land. 

 The best time of sowing the ' artificial ' manures 

 is generally in January : and it should at any rate 

 be seldom postponed beyond February." 



"While these lengthened experiments were being 

 conducted on the chalk formation of Hertfordshire, 

 an enterprising Scotch farmer, Mr. John Dove, 

 on the clay soils of Eccles Newton, near Kelso, 

 was hard at work on another, and still more 

 practical branch of the enquiry — valuable labours, 

 which were justly rewarded by the premium of 

 the Highland Society of Scotland— (Traws. High. 

 Soc. I860, p. 213.) His leading object was to 

 ascertain if other and cheaper manures than 

 Peruvian guano could not be employed. He 

 experimented upon the cereals, upon beans, po- 

 tatoes &c. ; but on this occasion, I am directing 

 my chief attention to the efforts that have been 

 made to find cheaper dressings than guano, for 

 those crops which are intended for the food of 

 stock. Let us take the grass trials first, and then 

 the root experiments of Mr. Dove, chiefly giving 

 the results per imperial acre ; and for the more 

 ready comparison of these, reducing them to the 

 following tabular form : 



The first experiment in 1857 was on a mixture 

 of red clover and perenniel rye-grass : after spring 



wheat on a clay soil ; the cost of the manure being 

 in all cases about £1 I7s. an acre. 



Ton cwt. qrs. 

 The soil simple produced of hay 



per acre 1 4 



3 cwt. of guano 2 



3 cwt. of ditto 115 



2 cwt. of nitrate of soda 1 17 



2 cwt. of ditto 119 



2 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia ... 116 



9 cwt. of saltpetre salt 1 8 2 



6 stones nitrate of soda "1 



6 stones sulphate of ammonia .. > 1 16 



3 cwt. saltpetre salt J 



The next experiment upon red clover and rye- 

 grass, was made on a black loam, after barley. In 

 this trial. 



Tons cwt. qrs. 

 The soil simple produced per acre 



of hay 1 10 



3 cwt. of guano 2 1 



3 cwt. ditto 2 



2 cwt. of nitrate of soda 118 



2 cwt. ditto 2 10 



2 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia, .. . 2 

 9 cwt. of saltpetre salt 1 10 



3 cwt. of saltpetre salt "1 



6 stones of nitrate of soda .,..>• 2 1 

 6 stones of sulphate of ammonia J 



In 1858, another experiment upon grass, after 

 wheat, on a loamy soil at Eccles Newton, gave 

 the following result ; the top-dressings being fol- 

 lowed by extreme dry weather. 



Tons. cwt. qrs. 

 Soil simple produced of hay per 



acre 1 11 



3 cwts. of guano 115 



2 cwt. of nitrate of soda 2 



2 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia.. .. 117 



With Swede turnips Mr. Dove, in 1857, made 

 two experiments, both on clay soil. In the fol- 

 lowing table the results obtained are given in tons 

 and cwts. per acre. In the first trials the whole 

 field got 15 loads of dung, and in its second trials 

 10 loads per acre. 



No. I. No. II. 



3 cwt. of guano 14 1..15 17 



4i cwt. of superphosphate 13 15 .. 15 

 3j cwt. of superphosphate 



and sulphate of ammonia, 



mixed 5 to 1 13 10.. 15 9 



3| cwt of ditto, mixed 10 



to 1 14 6 .. 15 3 



3j cwt. of superphosphate 



and nitrate of soda, mixed 



5 to 1 14 1 .. 15 18 



3| cwt, of ditto, mixed 10 



to 1 13 10 .. 15 9 



4i cwt. of Odams' blood 



manure . . 15 6 



In 1858, two other trials were conducted by Mr. 

 Dove on a free clay soil, after wheat ; in the first 

 experiment the field, a free clay loam, had 15 loads 

 of dung per acre, and the following special 

 dressings : 



