AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY. 155 



In the more extensive trials of Mr, Fleming, planted on the first of June, and top dressed 

 on the first of July, the produce from these various saline applications was as follows : 



Tons. Cwt 



Farm-yard dung, 30 tons 10 2 



Farm-yard dung, 30 tons 



Sal. ammoniac, 1 cwt 



Epsom salt, 1 cwt 



Glauber salt, 1 cwt 



Farm-yard dung, 30 tons 



Cubic petre, 1 cwt... 



Epsom salt, 1 cwt.. 



Glauber salt, 1 cwt 



Farm-yard dung, 30 tons 



Sulphate of ammonia, 1 cwt.. 



Glauber salt, 1 cwt 



Epsom salt, 1 cwt 



Farm-yard dung, 30 tons 



Peruvian guano, 1J cwt 



Epsom salt, 1 cwt 



Glauber salt, 1 cwt 



Common salt, 1 cwt 



11 19 



13 



14 19 



15 



Our readers may derive, we think, considerable benefit from carefully attending to these 

 points when they are about to employ top dressings. Mark Lane Exprets* 



Fish Manures. 



THE following is an abstract of a lecture recently delivered by Prof. Way, of England, on 

 the applicability offish as a substance for fertilizing: 



Prof. F. ounmiMii-cil by adverting to the importance of the subject. The employment of 

 artificial manures, however much it might have extended, was yet in its infancy, and in the 

 course of ten years it was probable that one hundred acres would be artificially manured for 

 every acre that was so treated now ; but this could only happen with the aid of fresh sources 

 of supply of the raw material for the manufacture of such manures. There was the greatest 

 difficulty in obtaining the material to supply the manure market. In the case of phosphate 

 of lime, the demand had so increased that the price had nearly doubled in the last two or 

 three years. It was, however, fortunate that phosphate of lime, occurring very largely as a 

 mineral deposit, had been searched for and found in several localities, and other supplies of 

 it were opening up, which promised eventually to meet any demand. No less important 

 than phosphate of lime, as an element of manure, was some form of nitrogen, of which the 

 value was so abundantly proved. Now, it could not be doubted, as he hoped to show, that 

 such a source of nitrogen, in the highest degree available for the wants of vegetation, existed 

 in fish. This source of nitrogen was practically unlimited, and he could not think that the 

 obstacles in the way of obtaining it in sufficient abundance and at moderate price were by 

 any means formidable. 



Of the value of fish and fish-refuse as manure there could be little dispute. The use of 

 fish, however, in its natural state was necessarily confined to a comparatively short distance 

 from the place where it was caught; so valued, however, was this manure, that he had seen 

 hop and wheat-fields covered in the winter with sprats at a distance of twenty-five miles 

 from the sea, and that before the days of railways, and when the farmer had to send his 

 teams to fetch them home. The question, however, of importance was, To what standards is 

 the value of fish as a manure to be referred ? In respect to this, Prof. Way remarked that 

 the quantity of water in fish was not nearly so great as was usually thought. It was a vul- 

 gar error to suppose that fish was less solid than flesh ; on the contrary, while the flesh of 

 the ox contained as much as 77 per cent, of water, different kinds of fish varied from 60 to 

 65, and some contained much less than this, even. The quantity of nitrogenous matter in 

 fish varied considerably; to this ingredient no doubt a great portion of the manuring pro- 

 perty of the fish was due. We had experience of the value of dried blood, woollen rags, of 

 horses' hair, and other animal substances, all of which were powerful manures; and the 

 nitrogenous parts of flesh being of the same composition, could not fail to have the same 



