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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



having them genuine, for if there is one class of 

 persons more systematically swindled than another 

 it is the farmers. Whether it jjroceeds from their 

 well-known honesty of character, which being so 

 honest themselves makes them unsuspicious of 

 others, or from their hospitality and kindness of 

 disposition they are more easily beguiled than 

 others by the specious tales of the swindling dealer, 

 I know not ; but certain it is, the extent to which 

 they are plundered is enormous by the substitution 

 in their manures of substances wholly foreign to 

 the genuine article. Although, as I have stated, 

 no one will deny the virtue of good dung for 

 meadow land if properly apphed ; still, like all good 

 things, too much of one thing sickens and cloys ; 

 and ground, like ourselves, requires a change, and 

 meadow ground perhaps more than arable, for 

 in the former there is no change of crops to restore 

 to the land what is taken from it, while in the latter 

 each succeeding crop restores to the soil in a great 

 measure what the other has deprived it of. Hence 

 in meadow land the necessity of a change must be 

 greater. Let us look at the chief constituents of 

 meadow hay, and I think you will then be better 

 able to see the necessity of a change of manures. 

 One ton of hay, with the aftermath, on an average, 

 contains 30lbs. of nitrogen, 35 of phosphoric acid, 

 36 of potash, 18 of lime and magnesia, and 42 of 

 silica ; while one ton of wheat and its straw con- 

 tain only 22lbs. of nitrogen, 10 of phosjihoric acidj 

 12 of potash, 8 of lime and magnesia, and 40 of 

 silica. Oats, with straw, about the same, and 

 barley a little more in nitrogen and potash than 

 wheat and oats (cf course these constituents vary 

 according to the soil); so that you see meadow 

 hay contains 50 per cent, more nitrogen, 300 per 

 cent, more phosphoric acid, 300 per cent, more 

 potash, 200 per cent, more lime and magnesia than 

 wheat and oats, and nearly the same per-centage 

 more or less than rye and barley. Well, then, we 

 see that hay takes from the soil more of its impor- 

 tant constituents, viz., nitrogen and phosphoric 

 acid, than any of the cereals, although not quite so 

 much in nitrogen, but a considerable deal more in 

 phosphoric acid than peas, beet, or potatoes. We 

 need not wonder that meadow ground, by its ex- 

 haustive culture, when not properly supplied with 

 suitable manures, so soon becomes infertile. 

 Hence the necessity of supplying to the soil such 

 artificials which contain the manuring elements 

 of which it has been deprived, and which dung 

 alone cannot bestow, however plentifully it may be 

 supplied, and I will give you an illustration. When 

 we took our farm at Mitcham, six years ago, of 

 which there are forty acres of meadow ground, 

 there were thirty acres of it wet and cold soil 

 which had scarcely ever seen any manure, but a 

 little mud from the river Wandle, which flows 

 through it, and consequently, as you may suppose, 

 from being constantly mown, was in a very poor 

 state ; the other 10 acres, which lies high and dry, 

 had been constantly dressed, and the year we went 

 there mown the second time. Well, I fed with 

 stock from November to the end of February, and 

 then left it for mowing without putting any manure 

 upon it, as it had been dressed the previous year. 

 "When it came .to be mown I was surprised at the 



lightness of the crop. Indeed it was scarcely 

 worth mowing, for out of the 10 acres I only car- 

 ried 10 cart-loads of hay; about four loads cf 

 truss-bound hay about the month of August the 

 same year. I dressed it with 25 loads of London 

 dung an acre, and I thought, " Well, next year 

 there will be something worth carrying." Well, 

 the next season came, and certainly I did find an 

 increase, but very slightly, although it was a grow- 

 ing time. There was an increase of about eight 

 cart-loads, or about two loads of truss-bound hay 

 extra, and which I thought a very poor return for 

 the outlay expended. I spoke of it to a gentleman 

 who lives near me, and who came to look over the 

 place one day with me. He said he could not 

 understand it that such good ground (and it ought 

 to be good, seeing that he paid £5 an acre for it), 

 and which had been so well manured, should not 

 grow more. I then thought something must be 

 wanting in the soil, and that it must be from the 

 constant application of one manure that must be 

 the cause ; so in the succeeding February I put on 

 five cwt. of fine bone-dust an acre, and then I 

 found that I was right, and that I was at last re- 

 ])aid for the present outlay and the preceding one 

 too, for I had an abundant crop; in fact, where I 

 had previously paid .5s. an acre for mowing, I had 

 to pay 9s., and it was well worth it, for we carried 

 from that field (which had been reduced since the 

 previous crop by the railway passing through it to 

 about nine acres) 36 van and cart-loads, or some- 

 thing like two loads of truss-bound hay per acre, 

 besides plenty after-feed, up to the next spring; 

 the next year, therefore, I did not manure it, and I 

 had about the same crop, and by dressing it with 

 dung and bones alternately with one season after 

 them manured, I had an abundance of hay and of 

 first-rate quality ; and so with the other 30 acres 

 I pursued the same system, with the exception of 

 now and then giving them, in the place of dung, 

 superphosphate and gypsum, just as stimulants, 

 when the season is cold and backward, and I have 

 now about 150 loads of hay (old and new), which 

 I can safely show against any in the county, and 

 there are gentlemen here who can authenticate 

 what I say, and which has been entirely produced 

 by the judicious application of manures, for I have 

 not sown any seeds beyond a few pounds weight 

 on some two or three acres, and although previously 

 the hay was comparatively worthless, I made dur- 

 ing the Crimea war £5 15s. per load upon the 

 place, and sold it to dealers, and I am now making 

 90s. per load for hay which a few years previously 

 would not have fetched more than £3 per load. 1 

 But some of you may not mow your meadows, but 1 

 only graze them ; you may therefore say " What do 

 I want with artificial manure, when I do not ex- 

 haust my ground by mowing ?" I know that 

 many farmers hold it as an opinion that by feeding 

 a meadow one year after it has been mown, that 

 it is as good as a dressing of manure, and that they 

 will have an abundant crop next year. This, 

 gentlemen, is a great mistake. Although you do not 

 injure the land so much by depasturing as by con- 

 stantly mowing it, still your ground wants manur- 

 ing; for, in every head of cattle (be it what it may), 

 that you graze in your meadows, your ground parts 



