66 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE, 



what it withholdg is of no less advantage than wLat it offers us. 

 "What it withholds !" repeats the reader in surprise. Yes. The 

 varieties described are, in number, fifty-five only. I will undertake 

 to say, as a potato fancier of long experience, that it would be easier 

 to make a list of two hundred and fifty than of fifty-five. In pre- 

 paring such a catalogue as the one before us, the difficulty will be to 

 determine what to strike out, and the task demands knowledge, taste, 

 and moral courage. The work is well done, as a matter of course. 

 E. D. could not make a bad catalogue of potatoes if you bribed him 

 to try. Procure it, and judge for yourself. 



Before I put the catalogue aside, I feel bound to select from it 

 the best six potatoes ; that is to say, the best six in my opinion. 

 They are — MyaWs Asldeaf, Beaconsfield, King of Potatoes (yellow 

 flesh), Waterloo Kidney, Late American Bose, and Bixton Pippin. 



S. H. 



FARMYAED AND STABLE MANURE. 



1!X MR. J. MITCHELL, MONTROSE. 



jlNTIL recently the cbief, and in many cases the only fertilizer the farmer 

 used was farm-yard manure ; and now that this is being to a certain 

 extent superseded by artificial manures, there is just the danger that it 

 may be too much overlooked. Farm-yard manure has its proper place 

 in agriculture, and so has artificial manure. I propose, in the following 

 remarks, principally to treat the question of urine ; its relative value to the solid 

 excrements, and the most effectual manner in which the urine can be economized. 

 Some agriculturalists hold exaggerated opinions as to the value of farm-yard 

 manure, others undervalue it, whilst some manufacturers and agents of artificial 

 maniires only manifest their ignor.ance by treating farm-yard manure slightingly, 

 and decrying it, in season and out of season, on the absurd supposition that by doing 

 this they will induce the farmer to order more artificial manure than he otherwise 

 would. The only valuable ingredients in farm-yard manure are the urine and the 

 solid excrements. The other ingredients are simply straw, etc., which Lave little 

 or no value in themselves, and simply serve to absorb and keep together the urine 

 and solid excrements. The approximate value of the urine of the horse, cow, sheep, 

 and pig, is as follows : Horse, 30s. ; cow, 20s. ; sheep, 30s. ; and pig iOs. per ton. 

 The approximate per-centage of ammonia contained in the urine of these animals 

 is: Horse, 1-6 ; cow, 0'9 ; sheep, 1'7 ; and pig, 0-4. The phosphates contained 

 are trifling, being about 1 per cent, in the horse and pig, about ij per cent, in the 

 cow, and about h per cent, in the sheep. The additional value of the urine of these 

 animals consists of a small per-centage of potash and soda-salts, etc. Comparing 

 these facts with the approximate composition and value of the solid excrements of 

 the same animals, we find that the solid excrements of the horse are worth 15s. per 

 ton ; the cow, 10s. ; the sheep, 25s. ; and the pig 6s. ; or, in other words, the value 

 of urine is about double that of the solid excrements. In comparing their value, 

 however, it is only fair to say that the value of the solid excrement is principally 

 owing to its being saturated with the urine. Thus it is evident that if anything is 

 to be done in economizing the farm-yard manures, it must be the urine that is to be 

 considered first. 



In considering this subject, a good deal of valuable information can be obtained 

 from the Chinese. We are often apt to consider these Celestials as little better 

 than savages ; it is, however, a well-known fact that they are much before us in 

 this matter, as in many others, and there is no doubt that we are the losers by thus 

 disparagingly treating them and their ideas, or rather ignoring them altogeth er 

 It is certain that they are now, and have been for hundreds of years, in many 

 respects very far advanced in the science of agriculture, and amongst them the 



