316 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



IS IT PROFITABLE TO APPLY PORTABLE MANURE AS TOP- 

 DRESSINGS TO CEREAL CROPS? 



One would think that if anything were likely to be 

 exempt from party warfare it would be questions of 

 agricultural practice. Yet there are no questions in 

 which party spirit rages more fiercely. Look at the 

 drainage controversy between Smith and Parkes; look 

 at the Keythorpe controversy ; look at the discussions 

 on liquid manure, and the application of the sewage of 

 our towns to agricultural purposes in the liquid form. 

 It was the misfortune of the sewage question and ques- 

 tion of liquid manure to be taken up by two gentlemen 

 who for political reasons were not very popular; and that 

 considerably enhanced the difficulty of dealing with a 

 question which was attended with the disadvantage of 

 being directly ojjposed to predilections in favour of old- 

 established usages. When Mr. Pusey adopted the 

 ■water-drill — who had declared liquid manure to be a 

 pretty plaything, but solid manure the only thing for real 

 farming — it became evident that the question of the ap- 

 plication of the sewage of towns in the liquid form had 

 made great progress. It became then a question 

 whether it was advisable to solidify the manure con- 

 tained in sewage water, supposing such solidification to 

 bo within the resources of chemistry, in order to recon- 

 vert it into the liquid form with water carted two miles. 

 It then became a question in engineering, whether ma- 

 nure in the liquid state cannot be conveyed to the land 

 more economically by means of the steam-engine and 

 pipes. 



Liquid manure, however, is not the subject of the 

 present article. It is merely introduced as illustrating 

 the obstacles which retard improvements in agriculture, 

 such as arise from adherence to old habits and the 

 diversity of opinions that prevail on most agricultural 

 questions, together with the difficulty of bringing them 

 to a decision. These reflections were suggested byread- 

 ing an account of a discussion which lately took place 

 in the farmers' club of Galashiels, on the question — 

 " Is it profitable to apply portable manure as top- 

 dressings to cereal crops 1" It was stated by the intro- 

 ducer, Mr. Sanderson, that Britain expends annually 

 £4,000,000 on them. For several years after bones 

 and guano wci'e introduced they were almost exclu- 

 sively applied to the turnip croj). The success of the 

 practice led some enthusiasts, he said, to top-dress 

 their white crops to such an extent, that it was not un- 

 common to expend a sum equal to the rental of the 

 land on this practice. With the present high price of 

 artificial manures, and at a time, moreover, when ex- 

 pense is regarded as synonymous with high farming, 

 it was regarded by the author as worth inquiry whether 

 this practice of surface-di-essing cereals is really 

 beneficial. Mr. Sanderson first adverted to the evils 

 attendant on this system of top-dressing, pointing 

 out as one of them the tendency which it pro- 

 duces in the crop to lodge. With reference to salt. 



as counteracting this tendency, he contended that it 

 only produced this effect by shortening the straw. It 

 appeared, therefore, that though it does to a certain ex- 

 tent prevent the tendency to lodge arising from a dressing 

 of ammoniacal manures, this was gained in a great 

 measure by counteracting the very object for which 

 top-dressings were resorted to, namely, the production 

 of a bulky crop. This tendency to lodge, it was added, 

 varied with the soil, and was particularly prevalent on 

 soils resting on the Silurian slates of that district. On 

 clay soils, where they produce strong straw, the ten- 

 dency to lodge was less, and the evil arising from top- 

 dressing was less also. Mr. Sanderson contended, and 

 we agree with him, that manure ought to be adminis- 

 tered to cereals by incorporation with the soil in such a 

 manner that they may be gradually absorbed by the 

 spongioles of the plant. 



Then, again, if loss is occasioned by top-dressings 

 producing too great luxuriance in wet seasons, equal loss 

 is sustained from their inefficiencyin dry seasons. Some 

 districts, also, are more unsuited to this system than 

 others; such, for instance, as the western side of Scot- 

 land, or inland districts skirting mountain ranges. 

 These are the disadvantages, arising from natural 

 causes, which attend the practice of top-dressing for the 

 cereals. On the other hand, there are doubtless situa- 

 tions where the practice may be profitable in any sea- 

 son. These are poor soils, deficient in organic or 

 mineral ingredients, or where the manure is applied 

 to the first crop on newly-reclaimed land. There is no 

 condition of the soil, it was added, in which guano pro- 

 duces such wonderful results as this : 1 J cwt. of Peru- 

 vian guano frequently causing an increased produce of 

 3 bolls of oats to the acre. Such being the direct evils 

 arising from the indiscriminate practice of top-dressing 

 cereals, the author of the paper contended that the 

 indirect evils were greater. The importance attached 

 to top-dressings of artificial manures, which had been 

 vaunted as high farming, had led to the neglect of the 

 best manure of all, that of the farm-yard. The more 

 frequently top-dressings are applied, the less their 

 effect, and the more rapidly is the soil exhausted. Not 

 so, however, with farm-yard manure. Every additional 

 application induces additional fertility; while, apart 

 from its fertilizing eflfects, it imparts a mechanical ac- 

 tion in the soil, by rendering it less adhesive. It is the 

 proper manuring of the turnip crop, and not top- 

 dressings, which imparts the highest and most perma- 

 nent fertility to the land. 



There were, of course, some speakers on the opposite 

 side. The majority, however, appeared to agree with 

 Mr. Sanderson ; and the club came to the resolution 

 that, with the exception of poor soils and soils newly 

 reclaimed, it is not profitable to apply portable manures 

 to cereal crops. 



