1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



659 



the manure, while in a state of heat, would dissi- 

 pate the gaseous matter, and thus occasion the 

 loss of that in which its nutritive powers are partly 

 supposed to consist. 



Produce of straw and dung. 



The quantity of straw and haulm groionpsr acre 

 depends upon such a variety of circumstances 

 touching soil and cultivation, season, and kind of 

 crop, that it is quite impossible to firm any pre- 

 cise calculation on the subject. Estimates have, 

 however, been made of the average weight of dif- 

 ferent sorts produced by the variou iei of grain, 

 from which a general idea of their gross amount 

 may be formed. Although it is clear that nothing 

 like accuracy can be expected on that point, yet 

 it is in the power of every farmer to form a tolera- 

 bly exact notion of the weight of all the si raw and 

 haulm actually grown upon his own land; and 

 coupling this with the number of his live-stock 

 and the nature of their food, he will probably be 

 able to make out such a rough calculation of the 

 gross quantity of farm-yard manure as may not 

 be far from the truth. Such an account may in- 

 deed appear at first sight to be more curious than 

 useful; but crops depend in a great measure on 

 yard-dung, and their rotation must be regulated, 

 on most soils, by its amount; it is therefore im- 

 portant to ascertain, as nearly as possible, the 

 quantity on which a man who is dependent upon 

 its production alone, without purchased manure, 

 can rely, beibre he lays bis plan for the ensuing 

 year. The following are some of the estimates 

 alluded to : — 



31cwt. or 347^1bs. wheat IGOst. or 35201bs. 



25 " 3310 beans & peas 130 " 2860 



25 " 2300 pats 130 " 2350 



20 " 2240 barley 100 " 2200 



Rye, about 3 loads of 36 trusses each, or SSSSlbs, 



The yield of different years varies the propor- 

 tion which all grain and pulse bear to the straw; 

 but the average of wheat is about 12 bushels to 

 the load, which, according to the practice in most 

 parts of England, consists of 36 trusses of 361bs. 

 each, and weighs 11 cwt. 2qrs. 81 bs.; but, accord- 

 ing to the above statement, the whole average of 

 the kingdom is supposed to be about 1^ tons per 

 statute acre.* 



It has, however, been calculated by Dr. Co- 

 ventry, the Professor of Agriculture in the Uni- 

 sity of Edinburgh, that arable land of a medium 

 degree of fertility and management, is capable, in 

 ordinary years, of producing, in round numbers, 

 per imperial acre, about — 



2S bushels of wheat, 

 •36 do. of barley, 

 42 do. of oats; — 



■and that the average quantity of straw yielded by 

 those crops will amount to 21 cwt. He then 

 states that, supposing this dry straw to be mois- 

 tened and rotted, it would thereby train an addi- 

 tion to its weight equal to two-thirds, or between 

 three-fourths and two-thirds of its gross w 

 thus producing; about three and a half tons of ma- 

 nure: and admitting that some corn is consumed 



♦Sinclair's Code of Agriculture, 3d edit., p. 429; 

 Survey of Middlesex, 2nd edit., pp. 220. 5 18 



in the feed of horses, as well as that the refuse of 

 the grain, the chaff and light corn, besides the 

 straw, go ultimately to the dung-heap, 'one can- 

 not reckon the amount of the putrescent manure 

 gained from an acre of such produce at more 

 than four tons.' But, judging by the like propor- 

 tion of moisture of different parcels produced by 

 straw, pulse, hay, or herbage of any sort, it is 

 likely that a full produce of turnips, potatoes or 

 cabbages, would furnish even a considerably 

 greater weight.'* By an experiment very care- 

 fully made by Mr. Dudgeon, of Prora, in East 

 Lothian, it however appears that dry straw had 

 only increased by absorption from 300 to 719 

 stone, during a period of seven months; which is 

 materially at variance with the Doctor's estimate 

 of the addition to its weight. It seems, however, 

 ii'om the statements of several eminent farmers, 

 that one ton of straw when augmented in weight 

 by the dung and urine of turnip-fed stock, will, if 

 properly managed, produce about, four tons of 

 tarm-yard manure;! but others, with more justice 

 we think, are of opinion that such a quantity can 

 only be produced when the common number of 

 cattle on farms in the ordinary course of cultiva- 

 tion are also fed in the usual way — upon hay, clo- 

 ver, and com, as well as turnips, besides being 

 well littered with straw. Its weight and value 

 will of course be affected by its state of prepara- 

 tion, as well as by the nature of the soil and its 

 cultivation. Meadow land which produces one 

 and th:ee-quarter tons of hay per acre has been 

 calculated to give six and two-fifths, or rather 

 more than six tons of manure per acre, J and the 

 fallow crops produce a large amount; the land, 

 therefore, without assuming any extraordinary de- 

 gree of fertility or management, should yield, up- 

 on an average, at least lour tons of manure per 

 acre; to which if be added the extraneous sub- 

 stances which may, with due care, be collected 

 without expense from the roads, the ditches, the 

 ponds, and from refuse of every kind about the 

 house and premises, the acreable amount should 

 be amply sufficient for a full supply of manure 

 once during every course of the four-years system 

 of husbandry. 



Dr. Coventry has also given an estimate of the 

 average quantity of manure that maybe procured 

 from different crops, on land that, in common 

 years, and under good management, may be sup- 

 posed capable of producing 28 bushels of wheat, 

 and 42 bushels of barley or oats, per imperial 

 acre. 



Tons. 

 By clover, grass or herbage, hay, &c, first > g 



year $ 



♦Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 337. 



fSinclair's Code of Agriculture, 3d edit., pp. 215, 

 440; Scottish Husbandry, 2d edit., vol. i. p. 379, and 

 passim. A Berwickshire farmer ;;ives a single cart- 

 load of turnips per day to eight or ten cattle in the 

 straw-yard. He finds that, on an average of three 

 years, from two and a half to three acres of straw will 

 winter one of those oxen; and in this way each acre of 

 straw will produce about four double cart-loads of rot- 

 ten dung of from 30 to 35 cubic feet each. 



I Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 337. 



