350 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 

 Table II. 



1. Yield per acre from the continuously unmanuredplot(No. 2) 



2. Yield per acre from the plot (No. 1) manured with 12 1 



tous of farmyard dung yearly J 



3. Yield per acre from the plot (No. 3) manured with 6^ 1 



cwt., 7 cwt., and 8 cwt. rapecake in each year severally J 



4. Yield per acre from the plot (No. 22) manured with 4|"| 



cwt., 5 cwt., and 11 cwt. superphosphate of lime each I 

 year severally J 



5. Yield per acre from the plots (Nos. 10, 11, 12, 14, 15,- 



16, 18, 19, 21) iu which phosphatic, calcareous, and 

 alkaline salts were used in larger proportion than in 

 the plots contained in the next subdivision, but no 

 nitrogenous salts 



6. Yield per acre from plots (Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 17, 



22) in which nitrogenous salts were used, as well as 

 the other substances enumerated in the last group, 

 but in leas proportion 



Yearly Produce. 



1843. 



1844. 



C. a. T. C. Q. T. C. Q 



8 4 3 



12 3 2 



1845. 



2 4 1 



10 15 1 



13 



7 14 3 



13 2 

 17 3 



Average 

 annual 

 produce. 



2 7 

 12 8 2 



4 16 4 11 1 



I 



12 13 3 ! 10 17 1 



10 8 



8 7 



Of these groups, the third falls to be thrown aside 

 as inconclusive, owing to the seed having been too se- 

 riously injured in germination from the caustic effects 

 of the rape-cake, to admit of a fair conclusion ; and as 

 our limits preclude us from dilating on all the other 

 members of the series, Nos. 2 and 4 shall be selected 

 for examination as most fraught with instruction. These 

 two shall be now taken up seriatim. 



Ist, then, of the experiment of , farmyard manure. 

 Now, if the ordinary manurial circumstances be consi- 

 dered for a moment, of a farm managed, for example, 

 under the common four-course rotation, it may be as- 

 serted that a moderately remunerative yield will be ob- 

 tained without the employment of any extraneous 

 dressings, provided the land receives adequate tillage, 

 and green crops be grown, and stock kept sufficient to 

 afford a quadrennial dunging from the court-yard, ap- 

 plied to the roots of each course, of from 15 to 20 tons 

 per acre. Now here, be it observed, the 20 tons of ma- 

 nurial matter (assuming the larger quantity for the sake 



of round numbers) has to supply nutriment not merely to 

 the turnip crop , but to the other three members of rotation 

 also ; and hence these 20 tons may be regarded as equi- 

 valent to an annual dunging of indigenous origin over 

 the whole farm at the acreable rate of 5 tons. But 

 when, next, the experimental instance before us is ex- 

 amined, it cannot but be deemed utterly beyond the 

 bounds of practical instruction ; since, in reality, it was 

 as if, in actual husbandry, the farmer, in addition to his 

 own internal supply of 5 tons to the acre, over head of 

 his farm, were to purchase enough from his neighbour 

 to raise the annual application to 12 tons over head — 

 or, in other words, as if he were to expend 48 tons in 

 each acre of his roots, in place of 20. Than this immo- 

 derate manurial experiment no proceeding of the kind 

 could be more anomalous, as is palpably demonstrated 

 in the following Table, where, chemically, it is shown 

 that the nutriment yearly deposited in the soil in the 

 three experimental years far exceeded in quantity those 

 withdrawn in the crops. 



Table III., showing approximately the chemical composition in lbs, of 12 tons of turnips (besides leaf), being the average 

 yearly produce of the experimental plot manured with farmyard dung ; and of 12 tons of dung, being the quantity of 

 manure employed. 



Within the entire compass of argument directed by 

 the experimentalists on this anomalous trial, whether 

 with reference to its substantive bearings, or to its fit- 

 ness as a standard of comparison by which to test the 

 other trials, we have failed to discover any instructive 



element whatsoever, and therefore to comment further 

 on it would be to no purpose. 



2Qd. Of the experiments with superphosphate of 

 lime applied alone, consecutively, during the three re- 

 ported years, 1843, '4, and '5, 



