Manurwf) Grass Lands. 215 



a fair dressing for an acre, because the qualify is so different, 

 occasioned by the different systems of keeping stock : thus the 

 manure made from horses highly fed, from piggeries, and from 

 horned stock fed on corn, cake, and roots, is of more than double 

 the strength or power of manure raised from stock poorly fed. 

 All farm-yard manure, before being laid on grass land, ought 

 to be so far reduced as not to appear strawey ; and 10 to 12 

 tons, from cattle highly fed, is a fair dressing for an acre. The 

 manure made at dairy establishments in towns is generally very 

 good ; so is that raised in stables where horses are highly kept for 

 pleasure or severe labour. 



The best time for applying farm-yard manure is in the latter 

 end of September or in October, particularly in a showery time : 

 as it soon gets a cover, and is then less liable to be damaged by 

 the sun or drying winds. 



Guano. — This is a great acquisition to the farmer ; its price 

 is now 13/. per ton, about 25 per cent, dearer than it was 

 ten years ago. I generally use about 3 cwt. to the acre on 

 seeds newly laid down for meadow or pasture. The best time 

 for applying it is in January or February, if the weather be 

 showery. If guano is sown on the surface, and a few days of 

 dry wind or sun follow before the manure is washed in, its 

 power is reduced by evaporation. A few months since I walked 

 over a field of 20 acres of rather strong soil on gravelly subsoil. 

 This field had been summer-fallowed, was in tillage and without 

 help up to 1842 : it was then laid to grass, but was so poor 

 in 1845 that only twelve yearling calves were put on the field; 

 six of these got out, and would not remain quiet on that pasture 

 that summer on account of the poverty of the land. In the 

 autumn of 1845 the occupier purchased, by accident, 20 tons of 

 damaged Ichaboe guano at 3/. 12^. 6f/. per ton, and applied the 

 whole on the 20-acre pasture field. I may just observe that it 

 lay in a good climate, about 40 feet above the sea. The effect from 

 the guano was distinct in one week; and, in 1846, 240 sheep 

 were well maintained and fatted on the 20 acres, with plenty of 

 keep to spare. This identical piece of land has always been in 

 high condition since : last year it was ploughed up for oats, and 

 these, if anything, were over-luxuriant. Since the oats were taken 

 off, the land has been ploughed twice, scarified, and sown with 

 wheat, having had no help since the covering of Ichaboe guano. 



Guano may be used much more freely on land to be pas- 

 tured than if the produce is to be made into hay, as some facts 

 will show. An agricultural society with which I am connected 

 has, for a long period, given prizes for land newly laid down 

 to grass in the best manner and with the best selected variety of 

 seeds. The new turf is viewed the second year, in the early 



