i72 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Osborne in 1837. She is by Priam, dam by Cerberus, 

 out of Diana, by Kill Devil. Like Annette, this 

 mare made no figure herself on the turf, but went 

 vv'ithout any character of her own to the stud in 

 1842, throwing "Pix" to Touchstone in 1843, and 

 her trump card " Dacia" by Gladiator, in 1843. 

 After her second foal Polyxena was taken up again, 

 and ridden for some years as a hack by Lady Geor- 

 gina Spencer. Upon her Ladyship's decease, her 

 favourite produced in 1 849 " Croat" to Cother- 

 stone, was not served in 1850 or '51, and was 

 barren in 1853 and 1855. In 1854 she had a ches- 

 nut colt to Cotherstone; in 1856, a bay filly by 

 Newcourt ; and in 1857, another chesnut colt by 

 Cotherstone, but there is nothing more to compare 

 with the daughter of Gladitor. Polyxena is also 



still alive and blooming at Althorp, in foal once 

 more, it is hoped, to Cotherstone. 



Many good judges have a fancy for "Dowagers," 

 and it is certain enough that some of our best 

 race-horses have been out of old and, as it was 

 thought, almost woin-out mares. But a well- 

 shaped, well-cared for thorough-bred mare never 

 loses her value, and there are numbers still kept 

 on here and there with the ofF-chance of their 

 throwing another foal or two. In the case of An- 

 nette, hov/ever, there is yet an almost regular re- 

 turn. Iq fact, nearly all Lord Spencer's mares are 

 good breeders, a point that depends no little on 

 the way in which they are looked after, and that 

 tells proportionately for Mr. Wilson the stud 

 groom. 



ARTIFICIAL MANURES—THEIR EXTENDED APPLICATION. 



BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSOK, ESQ., F.K.S. 



The extent to which artificial manures can be 

 profitably applied is a question of very practical 

 importance. The subject has befen of late ably 

 discussed by the members of some of our best nor- 

 thern Farmers' Clubs, but it has hardly in the 

 southern portion of our island attracted the atten- 

 tion which the increasing importance of the in- 

 quiry deserves. The value of the research will 

 naturally increase with the march of the popula- 

 tion : as that multiplies, larger demands are made 

 upon the soil ; there are more mouths to feed, yet 

 only the same number of acres to yield the re- 

 quired food. 



It is only, in fact, as the i>opulation of a country 

 becomes dense, that artificial manures are needed. 

 So long as the grower of corn can select at plea- 

 sure untilled and fertile soils, he has no need of 

 manure. He crops the ground as long as it pro- 

 duces remunerative returns, and then abandons it 

 for other sections as naturally fertile. It is thus 

 that, in all new countries, the mere labour of 

 spreading manure is avoided as too expensive and 

 unremunerative. In the vast wilds of Australia, 

 for instance, the farmer very commonly does not 

 even gather in the straw of his cereal crops : he 

 leaves that in the field, and unsevered from the 

 soil : it is the ears of corn only, that he values, and 

 frequently thrashes out in the field. 



An increasing population sooner or later ter- 

 minates this easy, this rude mode of cultivation. 

 The questions then speedily suggest themselves 

 to the owner of an exhausted soil, how this state 

 of barrenness arose, and how the original fertihty 

 can be restored ? 



He remarks that this decreasing fertility is more 

 rapid on arable soils, but is as slowly progressive 

 in pasture lands, however carefully these may be 

 stocked. 



It is a natural result of such useful observations 

 to first inquire how this exhaustion arises ? whether 

 there is any other impoverishing process in opera- 

 tion, besides the removal of the more fertile por- 

 tions of the soil by the crops it produces or the 

 live stock which these support. What of the 



drainage waters ? Wliat do these contain ? 

 What do they remove from the soil more than the 

 water showered down on the field by the rain ? 

 This is an interesting question, because it is evi- 

 dent that if there is naturally a loss in this way, 

 then that amount of injury is increased by the 

 greater perfection of modern artificial drainage. 



Now, by a little calculation, we find that if we 

 take the annual amount of rain-fall to be equal to 

 say 25 inches, then the amount of water falling on 

 an acre of land is about 567,000 gallons, or 2,532 

 tons — a quantity which, however ■;7;e in amount 

 in the home counties, is half as much again in the 

 westerly portions of our islands. The proportion 

 f this rain-fall finding its way into the drains has 

 been the subject of various and continued obser- 

 vations on diflferent soils. From these, if we take 

 as an approximate estimate that about 42*4 per 

 cent, of the rain- fall finds its way into the drains, 

 we have then the yearly amount of about 240,000 

 gallons, or 1,073 tons of water draining from an 

 acre of land. Hence it is evident that one grain 

 of any substance found in an imperial gallon of 

 such water is equal to 240,000 grains, or about 

 34g:lbs. yearly, dissolved in the water at the ex- 

 pense of an acre of soil. 



The nature of the ingredients thus removed in 

 the drainage waters was some little time since 

 ascertained by Professor Way {Jour. Roy. Ag. Soc. 

 vol. xv'ii., p. 132). He examined several specimens of 

 the water draining from the lands of the late Mr. 

 Paine, of Farnham. In three of these he found 

 in an imperial gallon the following amount (given 

 in grains) of mineral substances : 



1. 2. 3. 



Potash trace trace 0"02 



Soda 1-00 2-17 2-26 



Lime 4-85 7'19 6.05 



Magnesia 0-68 2*32 2-48 



Oxide of iron and alumina.. 0'40 0*05 0.10 



Silica 0-95 0-45 0-55 



Chlorine 070 TlO 1-27 



Sulphuric acid 1'65 5*15 4'40 



Phosphoric acid trace 0'12 trace 



