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XIII. — Manure for Mangold WurzeJ. By James Caird. 



There is probably no root crop grown by the English farmer 

 which is more under the influence of manure than mangold. To 

 no other green crop can a heavy dose be so safely applied, and 

 the only question with the grower is to ascertain the kind of 

 manure which at the least cost will produce the greatest effect. 

 Not knowing exactly what might be the most suitable dressing 

 for this crop, I last spring adopted the safe method of applying a 

 mixture of all the best manures in the following liberal propor- 

 tions, viz. : 



15 cubic yards of good dung, I 2 cwt. of superphosphate, 

 2 cwt. of Peruvian guano, ) 2 cwt. of nitrophosphate, 



4 cwt. of common salt, 



to each acre of my general crop on a good loam in Kent, within 

 ten miles of London, and the result has been very satisfactory. 

 The produce of one measured acre, probably the best in the field, 

 weighed upwards of forty tons of roots (the yellow globe variety), 

 and the whole field has averaged over thirty tons. 



In order to ascertain which one of these manures had the best 

 effect, I directed a series of experiments to be made in another 

 field, where the soil was more gravelly and not quite so favourable 

 to the mangold ciop. There were twelve experiments altogether, 

 each occupying the tenth part of an acre, each comprising three 

 rows of roots, the middle one of which was weighed in testing the 

 results. The whole plot was of uniform soil, the previous crop 

 on which had been wheat after Italian rye-grass. 



The experimental crop of mangold varied from 11 tons 18 cwt. 

 up to 30 tons 12 cwt. an acre — the best acre being thus nearly 

 three times as productive as the worst. The best and the worst 

 are here brought together : — 



The Best received 

 20 cubic yards of dung j 



4 cwt. of Peruvian guano \ and produced 30 tons 12 cwt. 



5 cwt. of common salt ) 



The Worst, 

 8 cwt. of superphosphate alone, and produced 11 tons 18 cwt. 



It is thus clear enough that superphosphate by itself is not a 

 good manure for mangold. 



Taking the best again as the point of comparison, I compare it 

 with 



The Second Worst, 

 Eight cwt. of nitrophosphate alone, which produced 12 tons 11 cwt., ' 



and with 



Tlie Third Worst, 

 Five cwt. of Peruvian guano alone, which jiroduced 12 tons 15 cwt, ; 



