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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



brought up wheat and barley crops by its means. 

 A barley grower, whose produce was as good as 

 any in the market, used some every year with 

 profit. They must, in fact, resort to this or other 

 means where their land was required to furnish 

 liberal crops; for if they only put on dung every 

 four years something else was required to realize 

 its advantages. If they improved their dung by 

 feeding with corn or cake, or supplied the de- 

 ficiency by means of artificial manures, what were 

 they doing in the one case and in the other? Just 

 supplying more nitrogen or more phosphate. 

 Double the nitrogen and the phosphates, and they 

 would double the value of their dung immediately. 

 One ton of dung so enriched in the yard would, in 

 fact, become more valuable than two tons ; and 

 this was the reason why the agriculture of England 

 was now so superior that they could now produce 

 8 or 10 sacks per acre as easily as their grand- 

 fathers had produced 6 sacks— not that they 

 applied more dung, but because it was of a better 

 qii dity, with more ammonia, more nitrogen, more 

 ])hi)sphate, and, consequently, capable of producing 

 better crops. The question had also been started 

 why lime sometimes weakened the soil, and why 

 lands that had been overlimed were never so good 

 again ? Why ? Lime was a powerful cause of the 

 riches of the sod being used up. Ammonia 

 applied to the land became fixed by the soil ; but 

 by lime and by water it became again soluble. 

 This only showed that lime could not be dispensed 

 with in modern agriculture, since it was so very 

 active an agent in doing good and causing the 

 riches of the soil to be freely used up. Thus it had been 

 stated by one member of the club that his turnips, 

 which had clubbed in sandy soils, when chalked 

 grew properly. Now chalk was only lime rendered 

 less potent. Where lime did not exist club root 

 would prevail. This was owing to the field itself 

 and not to the turnips. But it had been stated 

 that swedes had been good in a field so chalked, 

 which could no longer grow good mangold. The 

 injury in this instance was mechanical. The 

 hti-nefits of lime, however, were chemical. Lime 

 was wanted to reduce certain acids which produced 

 this disease called club-root; and if lime had been 

 added instead of chalk, or if considerably less 

 chalk had been added, the remedy would have 

 iield good without the evil. After some further 

 observations on the advantages of the use of lime, 

 Mr. Spooner concluded by saying that the subject 

 was very copious, and it was impossible to do it 

 entire justice, but enough had been said to show 

 that nitrogen, in some form, was a manure pecu- 

 a rly required by the grain crops. The effects of 



nitrogen were not mathematical ; it was necessary 

 to apply a considerably greater quantity of nitrogen 

 to the wheat crop, for instance, than to the bean ; 

 yet the analysis of the bean crop afforded twice as 

 much nitrogen as did the wheat crop. This was 

 a theory not dependent on the chemical com- 

 position of the manure, but on the physiology and 

 properties of plants. The wheat was a most 

 grateful plant; yet, as regarded ammonia, it would 

 appear to waste more than was applied. If they 

 were to apply 30lbs., for example, as an experiment, 

 expecting to get it back, they would be deceived^ 

 as they would not get back half the nitrogen con- 

 tained in the manure. This showed the advantage 

 of rotations in which one shift bequeathed to 

 another a vast amount of nitrogen, the material of 

 future crops, and aided in deriving it from the soil 

 and the atmosphere by another direct application 

 of agents. There was no better system than a 

 wise and discreet rotation of crops ; and, without 

 making extravagant experiments, they must farm 

 liberally if they would farm well and farm 

 successfully. 



On the motion of the Chairman, which was 

 duly seconded, the club assented to the expression 

 of thanks to Mr. Spooner, to whom there could be 

 but one opinion of their being greatly indebted. 

 He had supplied them with that kind of infor- 

 mation which they most wanted as farmers. They 

 wanted to know what kind of manure to purchase, 

 and what kinds were wanted for particular soils. 

 For, as different soils required different descriptions 

 of manure, it was only the chemist, who deeply 

 studied the matter, who was enabled to tell them 

 how to lay out their money to advantage. That 

 was not the first time that Mr. Spooner had 

 travelled from home by the mail train to contribute 

 to their information. His labours were of a prac- 

 tical nature, which they could all understand and 

 appreciate. And they would all accord cordially 

 in awarding him a vote of thanks. He (the 

 chairman) could only say that, so far as he was 

 concerned personally, of such a practical nature 

 were Mr. Spooner's remarks, that he had 

 learnt more that evening concerning manures 

 and their application than he had ever learnt 

 before. 



After a few words of acknowledgment from 

 Mr. Spooxer, the meeting separated ; Mr. 

 Spooner just observing that the question had 

 arisen whether dung should be applied to the sur- 

 face and distributed, or ploughed in at once, or 

 matured in the dungheap beforehand. He believed, 

 himself, it was far better applied to the surface, 

 which would permit as little as possible to fly off. 



