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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



elegant cow, and with better crops than almost any we 

 met there. She had just calved to Young Windsor, so 

 that we did not see her to much advantage. They quite 

 hope to go on with her for the Yorkshire Royal next 

 year ; and there is nothing in his herd that Mr. Stratton 

 seems to fancy more. With her, our second day's 

 inspection ended, as we thought, and we were more 

 astonished than delighted to hear suddenly from our 

 guide, that he had absolutely " forgotten a field with 29 

 calves in it." Beef, milk, and veal seemed a perfect 



drug, and like the linguist who proposed to <alk a little 

 bad grammar by way of relaxation, we could gladly have 

 recruited our thoughts for an hour or two among silk- 

 worms and dragon-flies. Luckily Ashdown was not 

 far distant, and ere long we had changed the venue from 

 the Red Dukes and the Waterloos, and the cheese- 

 room, to the Rosy Morns, and the Sweetbriars, and 

 the straight-backed hares of the far-famed Compton 

 Bottom. 



TOP-DRESSINGS FOR PASTURES. 



Section II.— ANIMAL MATTERS. 



1. — Farm-yard dung 



is composed of straw mixed with the solid and 

 urinary excrements of animals. The unequalled 

 value as a manure arises from the quick organic 

 matters in the urine ; in which are found, as the 

 products of change, the more valuable organic and in- 

 organic ingredients, while the invaluable substances are 

 found in the faeces, which are characterized by the 

 earthy salts, as is the urine by the alkaline salts. The 

 soluble mineral ingredients are contained in the urine, 

 in addition to the nitrogenous or ammonia- forming in- 

 gredients. The solid fteces represent the incombustible 

 ashes, or the " debris" of food, as combustion accom- 

 panies nutrition by the decomposition of the articles 

 used to support life. The mineral ingredients form the 

 source of action of solid faeces as manure. Straws con- 

 tain a large portion of silica, with earthy phosphates 

 and carbonates and soluble salts. The gradual decom- 

 position yields an earthy residuum, which adds to the 

 staple of the land. The earthy matters enter into com- 

 bination with the animal and more easily soluble in- 

 gredients, retard the too rapid putrefaction, and confer 

 the lasting quality on farm-yard dung as manure. 



Farm-yard dung is best applied in the unprepared 

 condition of straw and excrements, as produced in the 

 dung-yards. It is most beneficially used in the latter 

 end of autumn or in the early winter, and by the time 

 the grass shoots in the spring, the fseces will be much 

 decomposed, and will have subsided into an earthy 

 stratum that hold the roots of the plants, the strawy 

 part will have aflforded shelter and warmth to the vege- 

 table layer, and when the vivifying beats of spring 

 commence, the effects will be protruded with much 

 vigour. In the early spring, any roughness that remains 

 on the surface must be raked off, and a heavy roll will 

 level the inequaliities, and press to the roots of the 

 plants the earthy decomposition of the fseces from the 

 effects of the action of the vicissitudes of weather. The 

 quantity of dung laid on the ground must cover the 

 surface evenly and closely when spread by the fork, and 

 care is used in breaking the lumps and laying the ma- 

 terials very evenly over the ground, and when the 

 strawy covering is removed in the spring, the combina- 

 tions that have been forming during winter are ready 

 for development in the promotion of vegetable growth. 

 New seeds intended for hay are wonderfully benefited in 

 this way. As the excremental part of the manure contains 

 an earthy residuum, the seeds of the better grass plants 

 are very beneficially sown in the spring, and rolled into 

 the ground. All pastures are with certainty improved 

 by this application ; inferior grounds are advanced in a 

 full fourth of the herbage, and always with the never- 

 failing effect of weeds being banished, and grass plants 

 brought forward. Top-dressings of any kind produce 



this effect ; but calcareous matter and farm -yard dung 

 are the most prominent actors in that way. 



2. Bones 



are the walls of the animal habitation, and are chiefly 

 composed cf phosphate and carbonate of lime, with 

 magnesia, soda, and potash; cartilage completely 

 soluble in water. The reduction is effected by crushin g 

 mills, and into a finer condition by acids, which confer 

 new qualities and form fresh substances. Half-inch 

 bones are the most common in use, and with the dust 

 that is produced by the grinding. In this comminuted 

 state, the bones arc spread over pasture lands at the 

 rate of one to two tons per acre, and cost £3 to £4 per 

 ton ; and the application is done in October and No- 

 vember, and also in April. The surface of the ground 

 is well harrowed before sowing the bones, and after- 

 wards brushed and rolled. Moist weather is preferred. 

 In many cases, the quantity of herbage has been 

 doubled or very largely increased ; and the effects are 

 very lasting, even to twelve years when the land is pas- 

 tured. When mown, four or five years exhaust the 

 application. The calcareous element in the bone very 

 much encourages the growth of white clover, as in all 

 cases of similar substances being used. On clovers and 

 seeds the effects of bones are very large with H tons on 

 an acre, and last for several years. The liking for dry 

 lands attaches to bones in every case of use. 



3. Guano 



is the accumulated excrements of sea-birds which roost 

 on the islands of the southern ocean, and drop the dung- 

 in layers on the banks of rock that guard tlie ocean. 

 The composition is very varied in salts of ammonia, 

 acids, lime, sand, potash, soda, water, and organic 

 matter. The value rests on the ammoniacal ingredients. 

 The use of guano for growing turnips is well known ; 

 the quantity of 2 cwt. sown on an acre of meadow land 

 has increased the crop of grass half a ton per acre, and 

 pasture grounds have been j^roportionally improved. 

 The best experience recommends mixing the guano 

 with fine earths and sifted ashes in equal quantities, 

 and that the spring is the best season of application. 



4. Night-soil, 

 or human excrements, is a very rich fertilizer, and 

 highly appreciated. Water forms three-fourth parts; 

 one-sixth part is animal products, and slight traces of 

 bile, all)umen, soda, magnesia, and lime. The sub- 

 stance is mixed with earths, peat, mould, and coal- 

 ashes, which imbibe the liquid part, and convert the 

 oi'dure into a dry compost, which is spread on any 

 grass lands with a large effect. The quantity is the 

 common allowance of the light earthy composts used in 

 the spring. The small quantity of night-soil seldom 

 extends to the farm, being applied to the garden pur- 

 poses. 



