12 



much common salt, except it is the "new kainit of 40 per cent, 

 potash ' now produced at Stassfurt (which is not exported to Aus- 

 tralia)., or else muriate or sulphate of potash, 8 Ib. of muriate being 

 equal to 10 Ib. of the 40 per cent, new kali. Nitrogenous manures,- 

 as nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia, are also applied to Ger- 

 man soil in surprisingly large quantities. It is, perhaps, not always 

 quite understood why nitrate of soda acts so quickly. It contains as 

 nitrogen, nitric acid, which represents, ready-made, the form which 

 nitrogenous materials must assume before plants can make use of 

 them as plant food. Other, nitrogenous manures luust first undergo 

 a change, and cannot act with such rapidity. 976,592 bags of nitrate 

 of soda were delivered in 1899 into Atlantic ports of the United 

 States, mostly from the West Coast of South America. England, 

 France, Belgium, Holland, and the United States use enormous 

 quantities of commercial manures of all kinds, and for all crops. 

 South Australia has lately imported much larger quantities, which 

 will be mainly used for cereal crops; but mistakes are frequently 

 made. The proper balance between the application of the three 

 main plant foods not being kept, the result is certain to be dis- 

 appointing after any of the constituents naturally stored in the soil 

 have been used up. Larger returns from well-directed manuring, but 

 smaller areas, is the advice that I hope will be followed shortly, and 

 that the net income will be all the larger. Every acre not used for 

 grain-growing is a clear gain for your cattle. 



Whether it pays to purchase commercial manures is the ques- 

 tion often raised, and it is a reasonable question. Another question 

 is whether the use of commercial manures does not eventually ex- 

 haust the soil. It should not be asked by persons who admit that 

 these manures are plant food, not merely stimulants, which do 

 abstract the plant food from insoluble compounds they find in the 

 9oil, unless you give only one manure, not nitrogenous, potassic, and 

 phosphatic manures together in such quantities as the soil requires. 

 But to manure conscious of what you are aiming at is up to the 

 present in Australia only an exception. We must seek the infor- 

 mation elsewhere, with a few facts from our best farmers; and, a* 

 nothing convinces more than ocular demonstration, where the en- 

 ouirer cannot himself see the results of experiments, I have found it 

 useful to reproduce photographs; with them. In Germany the number 

 of leaflets dealing with special cultures is very great, and they, 

 together with personal visits to the thousands of farms using com- 

 mercial manures in an intelligent manner, and in ever-increasing 

 quantities, have resulted in the conviction of thousands upon thou- 

 sands of farmers and gardeners, that they cannot any longer dispense 

 with their use if they hope to get payable crops. 



From the foregoing it must become apparent that most of 

 our farmers have yet much to learn. Experience is good ; experi- 

 ments are better. The 'former may be obtained at great mistakes 

 and losses; the latter can be carried out at a trifling cost; and by 

 them you may lay the foundation to know how to improve your farm 

 or g-arden, and of future wealth. A few turns of the drill with one 



