THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



411 



wich so much of its phosphate in the food con- 

 sumed by that animal, which tends to form its 

 bones, sinews, &c., and tlie richer the feed in phos- 

 phate and nitrogen the stronger and better will be 

 that animal. Then if we look at the constituents 

 of the excrements of those animals so fed, we shall 

 find that they retui-n to the soil a very small pro- 

 portion of what they take from it. While l,nO()lbs. 

 of such excrements contain only 4lbs. of nitrogen, 

 three of phosphoric acid, and 4lb. of lime, we 

 find that the same proportion of bones of such 

 animals contain oOlbs. of nitrogen, 240 of phos- 

 phoric acid, and 330 of lime, which has been ab- 

 stracted from the soil at one time and another. 

 Therefore it shows the absolute necessity of re- 

 storing such elements again to the soil if you wish 

 to fertilize your land, and raise fine and healthy 

 stock. In concluding this part of my subject, I 

 cannot do better than read to you an extract from 

 the Farmer's Macjazine of January '59. It is as 

 follows : " It was a wise saying that he who made 

 two blades of grass to grow in the place of one, 

 was a benefactor to mankind. The Cheshire dairy 

 farmer, by the free use of finely-crushed bone 

 manure laid on his grass lands, makes his farm, 

 which at one time before the application of bone 

 manure fed only 20 head of cows, now feed 40 !" 

 In Cheshire, two-thirds or more, generally three- 

 fourths, of a dairy farm, are in permanent pasture, 

 the remainder in tillage. Its dciiry farmers are 

 commonly bound to lay the whole of their manure 

 not on the arable, but on the grass land, purchasing 

 what may be necessary for the arable. The chief 

 improvement, besides drainage, consists in the ap- 

 plication of bone manure. In the milk of each 

 cow, in its urine, in its manure, in the bones of 

 each calf reared and sold otf, a farm parts with as 

 much earthy phosphate of lime as is contained in 

 half a cwt. of bone dust. Hence the advantage 

 found in returning this manure by boning grass 

 lands. It is considered that draining and boning 

 four acres of land will yield .such an additional 

 quantity of grass that each acre go treated will 

 summer one cov/. But if land be not boned and 

 of similar quality to that which has been boned, 

 two acres are genei-ally, in Cheshire, required to 

 keep one cow in summer. The quantity of bones 

 now commonly given in Cheshire to an imperial 

 acre of grass land is about 12 or 15 cwt. This 

 dressing on pasture land will last seven or eight 

 years ; and on mowed about half that period. But 

 the grass land once boned and kept under pas- 

 turage is never so exhausted as to be as poor as it 

 was before the application. All the better sorts of 

 grasses — cow grass, clover, and others — spring up 

 in the place of the more worthless. The example 

 in Cheshire by its dairy farmers in using so largely 

 bones on their grass lands, their application of 

 bones as top-dressing to grass, has been found so 

 very beneficial as nearly to double the number of 

 cows kept in that country ; and the weight of 

 cheese having also been nearly doubled within a 

 few years from thus boning their grass lands, 

 ought to encourage all dairy farmers to imitate this 

 management of boning their pastures. Next to 

 dung and bones for meadow land is guano. What 

 good wines are to the constitution, so are the first- 



named manures to the ground by nourishing and 



strengthening it ; and like brandy is to the consti- 

 tution, so is guano to the soil. Guano is purely 

 stimulating, and should be used for meadows in 

 small quantities, and not too frequeritly, but as 

 necessity requires to make up any deficiency arising 

 from a wet and cold or backward season, and when 

 it has been late or too closely fed. It should 

 always be used mixed with other things, such as 

 bone dust, gypsum, salt, soot, or earth, and per- 

 haps there is nothing better than simple mould as 

 an admixture, for it acts as an absorbent by taking 

 up the ammonia which otherwise evaporates in the 

 sowing ; and, again, by preventing its injurious 

 effects upon the grass, for pure guano is very rich 

 in ammoniacal salts, and easily corrodes the roots 

 of the plants, especially the young and tender ones. 

 Therefore it should never be sown in dry wea- 

 ther ; but by being mixed with earth this is avoided, 

 and injury to the plants is no longer to be feared. 

 It is my opinion from experience, that guano 

 should never bs used for meadow lands where the 

 soil is light and dry, as I believe it is more injurious 

 than beneficial. But on cold wet soils, there it 

 is specially adapted, the moisture of the ground 

 tending to destroy its corrosive influence, and 

 likewise absorbing' the ammonia, although here it 

 should not be used too often, and whenever it is 

 used, it should always be followed by dung or 

 other manures ; that is, supposing guano to be 

 used for this season, then next season it should 

 be followed by dung or bone dust, &c., as the 

 forcing properties of the guano tend greatly to 

 weaken the roots of the plants by the rapid develop- 

 ment of the leaves and stems. I have tried it 

 several times on meadow ground, and always find 

 it answered best for wet soils and in wet seasons. 

 The last time I used it I put it at the rate of three 

 cwt. per acre on part of*a damp cold meadow, and 

 certainly the grass grew as fast again on that part, 

 to what the other portions of the field did which 

 were boned and dunged. But when it was mown, 

 Ifound the grass wasted more in the making of 

 the hay than the other grass, although the after- 

 feed continued to grow luxuriantly. In the next 

 year, however, it was plainly visible where it had 

 been : in the grass-cutting season it was neither so 

 long nor so thick as the other portion of the field, 

 showing that the forcing power exerted the pre- 

 vious year had weakened the roots for the succeed- 

 ing year's growth ; whereas at other times, when it 

 had been succeeded by dung or bone dust, the 

 luxuriance of the hay was increased. I need not 

 trouble you with the constituents of guano, as I 

 dare say you are well acquainted with them already, 

 but will, therefore, proceed with the other manures 

 adapted for meadows. Superphosphate of lime is 

 a manure which is rapidly rising into repute as a 

 fertilizer of meadows : until within these last five 

 years it was almost wholly confined to root crops 

 and cereals : but from successive experiments made, 

 it is fast becoming a favourite for meadows. To a 

 great extent it resembles guano in its effects, being 

 a stimulator, and is generally used for the same rea- 

 sons, although slower in its action, but is more 

 enduring, provided it is of good quality j and here 

 let me state, that of all manures sold to the far- 



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