1306 ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF AGRICULTURE. supplement. 



various toils, In which last particular English iclence is sadly defective : for, Dr. Liebig observes, Davy 

 fins made several anal) tea of various ferule soils, and since his time numerous other analysis have been 



published, but they air all SO SUpei Hclal, and ill must CMeS SO in.n eura 1 B, that we possess DO means of 



lining the composition or nature of English arable land. This reproach on our science ought 

 certainly to be removed ; and it is easj to Bee how varied a field of inquiry is opened by the new theory." 



(.I,mrii. R. A S. A'., vol. iii. p. -214.) 



8187. <h, tl„- practical application of manures, Mr.Pusej has given the following summary as the 

 result of recent experience. < In tins most difficult subject In agriculture, manures, " it may be said that 



We have learnt B great deal in the last lour years, but know nothing ; for we have learnt many of the 

 chemical principles on which manures act, bul we do not yet know how to apply those principles to the 

 dill', work of the farm, it Is now established, that the most important ingredient ol farm-yard dung is 



ammonia; the same substance as common smelling salts; known to escape very readily in the air; 

 and there is a (.'rowing opinion that B great deal of it does so escape from our farm-yards; which is 



doubtless the case ; though I am not sure whether the alarm on the subject be not somewhat exagger- 

 ated. For ammonia arises chiefly from the urine of the cattle, but it does not form itself until after some 

 days ; and by that time, in a w ■ell-littered yard, it has sunk from the surface, and has been trampled down 

 last, so that it can less easily evaporate. Whilst it is forming itself, too, the straw begins to decay ; and 

 it is the opinion of Sprengel that an acid, called the humicacid, formed from the decaying litter, has the 

 property of combining with the ammonia, and removing its volatile property. This must be doubtful, 

 Ol course, and various means of fixing the ammonia have been proposed. Sulphuric acid is one, either 

 in the shape of gypsum, which has been found not to answer, or in that of green vitriol, or as a pure 

 acid ; but these are at present only suggestions. We have been also strongly urged to imitate a foreign 

 practice of using liquid manure, spread Irom a water-cart ; but this I believe to be a very doubtful inno- 

 vation; for if the urine be collected separately, it is the opinion of Sprengel that a still greater escape 

 Of ammonia takes place, unless some substance, which is not yet ascertained, be added to fix it, or unless 

 it be largely diluted with water, which occasions great labour in its application. This last objection lies 

 also against the other form of liquid manure, the runnings from the yard collected in a tank ; for after 

 heavy rains they sometimes do not contain above two per cent, of salts, and are then not worth the 

 labour ol carriage It appears that this loreign practice has arisen from two causes : one. the want of 

 litter, and where the same cause exists, as on some of our dairy-farms, the method might be well in- 

 troduced ; the other motive is, the desire in Flanders of applying a liquid top-dressing in May to the 

 corn growing on sandy land, or else to a second crop, such as carrots sown amongst beans ; but this last 

 case does not arise in England. Some loss, however, must arise by the runnings from every farm-yard ; 

 lor « hetber the ammonia be tixed or escape in the air, there is no doubt it is still soluble and runs away 

 in the water." But "if the yard be well littered, ami the dunghills be covered with earth, I doubt 

 whether, excepting on grass farms, where the tank may be necessary Irom the want of straw, the present 

 management of dung can be greatly improved, though in many districts the quality certainly may be " 



8138. Artificial manures or hand-tillages. Besides farm-yard dung, we have an infinite variety of 

 artilieial manures or hand-tillages ; indeed, it may he said that there is no refuse of any trade, provided 

 it be animal or vegetable, except tanner's bark, which is not or might not be used for this purpose. 

 It would be useless to enumerate all, as they are well known, and the supply of many is very limited. 

 The two principle articles are bones and rape-dust, the former suited for light land, and used chiefly 

 for turnips. It is remarkable how very local is the use of both these manures ; that of bones, indeed, 

 is spreading, but rape-dust is not so much known in the south ; and certainly where artificial manures 

 are new, there is some unwillingness to lay out money upon them, though dung perhaps is bought at 

 os. the cart-load, and carted with great labour at a long distance. When bones were first used, it was 

 thought that unboiled bones must be better than those from which the animal oil had been extracte I ; 

 but the reverse appears now to be true — not that animal oil is useless, but that it sheathes probably the 

 bone, and checks its action upon the plant. There remains, however, in the hone another animal 

 compound, gelatine,, or the matter of jelly ; but Sprengel states he has repeatedly found that bones act 

 as strongly after they have been burnt, when the jelly of course is removed ; and this is well worth re- 

 marking, because the body of the bone consists of phosphate of lime, evidently another powerful prin- 

 ciple, which is found also abundantly in urine, and consequently in dung. But though the character of 

 bones is established upon light land for turnips, even this manure fails on some soils of that quality, 

 which shows that we cannot be too cautious in prescribing even the most approved remedies for the 

 lirst tine upon land. 



R138 (i. Rape-dust appears to be established chiefly among the farmers of Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, 

 and Lincolnshire As it is one of the few hand-tillages which can be applied to clay, and as some of our 

 south-country clays are much in want of assistance, I may mention that, according to an excellent prize 

 essay ol the W'etherby Agricultural Society, by Mr. John Hannam, the best mode of using it is drilling 

 with autumn-sow ti wheat at the rate of 4 or 5 cwt. to the acre, the price being about Is. per cwt. 



8139. Rags. Mr. Hannam states. " 20,000 tons of rags are said to be used annually by the farmers of 

 Kent, Sussex, Oxford, and Berkshire. The price is about 51. per ton. They answer extremely well for 

 bops and wheat. They are usually cut by a chopper into shreds, and applied by the hand at the rate of 

 half a ton per acre." Six or seven cwt. is considered a fair dressing for wheat upon light land; on 

 heavy land rags are not used at all. 



81 lu. Nitrate oj soda, from which so much was once expected, has given various and contrary results. 

 " Tin-re are the most undoubted proofs from numerous quarters of an enormous increase in the produce 

 after it- use ; there are as undoubted instances of its utter failure: nor have we any clue to the mystery. 

 A lull statement of all the recorded experiments on nitrate of soda is contained in Professor Johnston's: 

 Chemistry unit Geology applied to Agriculture, the most complete account of agricultural chemistry that 

 we joss, ss. tin the same land where it gave Mr. Pusey 8 bushels of wheat one year, it gave barely 3 in 

 the following ; and having tried it largely at that time on four different farms, nowhere with success, 

 be in- viier. it up. Still there is evidently a principle of fertility in it, which will some day be found 

 out. and some larmers continue to use it ; but ill several eases it has produced mildew ill wheat and 

 by fort ing the crop beyond the strength of the land. By the side of the nitrate Mr. Pusey tried 

 on several fields the sulphate ol ammonia, extracted from gas-water, for the first time. It acted precisely 

 a- the nitrate of soda, darkening the colour of the plant, and lengthening the straw and the ear even 

 more than the nitrate, but it certainly did not pay. Again we have the principle, and we must learn 

 to combine it." 



Kill. Guano, " I can speak with more confidence of the last new manure, guano, having used it on a 

 small scale Last year, and to the extent of 5 tons in the present season. There are two circumstances 

 in its favour before-hand: one, that it is in fact dung, though of very ancient origin, still birds' dung, 

 which is know n to be the most powerful of all manures ; the other, that it has experience in its favour, 

 though a distant experience certainly, at the other side of the globe, in Peru — still an experience of 

 SCO years. It appears to be best calculated for root-crops On a light loam, where it has been used 

 here this year for turnips at 3 cwt. to the acre, costing 4">s., it has nearly equalled 2U loads of very good 

 dung, and ha- beat' n 2(1 bushels of bones costing 65t., as well as several other artificial manures, beyond 

 any comparison. It has failed as atop-dressing on corn and on clover. On the whole, guano seems an 

 excellent manure for ri ot-cropB, if rightly applied, and, as it is now sold at 12s. the cwt., a very cheap 

 one ; but I should be sorry to hear of it being tried largely on a different soil than light loam without 

 ' 



81 12 Quicklime is so largely used on the west side of England that it bears there the name of 



