278 Norfolk Farming. 



improvements which are more or less applicable to the whole 

 of the county, and which in a wider sense form part of the 

 agricultural progress of the United Kingdom. But where to 

 begin ? Of all the novelties of the last fifteen years, which has 

 created the greatest revolution in agriculture? Perhaps artificial 

 manures. Well, what troubles us most frequently does us the 

 greatest good ; let us hope it is so with artificial manures. There 

 are always two ways, a riglit way and a wrong one, and most fre- 

 quently the wrong comes first. Ah ! but with artificial manures 

 not only does the disagreeable way take precedence, but there 

 are many wrong ways, and only one that will guide us right. 

 We try all sorts of manures, for all sorts of purposes. Some is 

 purchased because it is cheap ; some to serve a needy friend, 

 some because the agent is a respectable man, some because it is 

 horrid-looking stuff, some because it has a most revolting odour ; 

 and there are many other reasons too numerous and too absurd to 

 mention. Now all these ways are wrong ways. The right one is 

 to huy only by analysis. Science may have made its false steps, 

 Lawes and Liebig may have differed, abstract theories may not 

 always have borne practical fi'uits, but still chemical knowledge 

 is the only way by which we can arrive at the real value of these 

 artificial manures. Our practical ignorancecannot be bliss, unless 

 it be pleasant to buy things at double their value, and lose good 

 crops into the bargain. Farmers begin to see this, and a more 

 healthy and rational feeling is coming over the manure market. A 

 price being put on the most valuable parts of the manures, a 

 buyer by analysis can readily see what his manure should cost, 

 and a fee of IO5. to the Society's chemist will soon let him know 

 if the bulk equals the analysed sample. The transactions in 

 artificial manures have been long in coming to this simple plan, 

 but once established, the ignorant manufacturer who uninten- 

 tionally fleeces his customers, and the rogue who purposely 

 adulterates his manure, may consider their occupations to be gone. 

 Guano is extensively used in West Norfolk for wheat. It is 

 usually ploughed in in the autumn, yet by some it is still applied 

 as a top-dressing in the spring. As at that season much of its effi- 

 cacy depends on the weather, the use of guano, unless it can be 

 incorporated with the soil, seems on the decline. Guano is 

 applied largely for barley and oats on light land, being generally 

 harrowed in before the seed is drilled. It is fashionable to use 

 a mixture of guano and superphosphate for barley, and these 

 fertilizers are considered the base of the various barley manures 

 which inundate the market. Of course if nothing else were 

 added they could not be sold for 8Z. or 9/. per ton. The prin- 

 cipal addition is frequently salt — a useful and cheap substitute 

 for more valuable manures. The sale of guano has much 



