1310 ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF AGRICULTURE. supplement. 



Improved by ilmple substances when they can get nothing else, and that it is only when the soil In which 

 thej gro« Emu been manured, and siill retahu a quantity of the organic matter so Introduced, that the 

 effects of simple substances become advantageous. This Is to some extent exemplified In certain valuable 

 experiments made by Mr. Fleming, of Barocban. < rna soil which, w ithoul being recently manured, pro- 

 duced 6f ton* of the red don potato. BO bushels of wood-ashes (which may be regarded as a simple 

 manure I raised the crop only three quarters of a ton at the expense of 25*. ; but 4 cwt. of natural guano, 

 a very compound substance, added more than 7J tons, at the total cost of 48*. (reckoning guano at Its present 

 price). But when 25 bushels of wood-ashes were added to 4 cwt. ol guano, the crop rose about 1^ ton 

 further, at the additional cost of 12*. M. So that, where wood-ashes were need alone, the small quan- 

 tity of potatoes obtained by them cost 38*. ■)</ a ton, n bile, In combination « ith guano, the same substance 

 furnished potatoes at the expense of only about St. a ton. To the guano and wood-ashes 20 bushels of 



charcoal were added, at a cost of 7s. 6d., and the effect was to add 1 1 ton more to the crop ; so that now 



the additional crop cosl scarcely more than 4*. a ton. This may be stated a little differently in the fol- 

 lowing manner : — Where wnnd-a-ho (a simple manure) were used alone, the potatoes, obtained beyond 

 what the land would yield without any manure whatever, cost 1/. 13*. -Id. per ton. Hut where wood-ashes 

 were used In addition to more complicated manures, the crop was largely augmented, at an expense in 

 manure amounting only to from Cv. 3d. to 6s. 8tf. per ton of extra produce. These things seem to prove 

 conclusively thai the best way of using saline or simple manures for the potato-crop is to apply them in 

 addition to common manure, and not on any account to trust CO them by themselves. {(!. ('. ls.{:<, p. 243 .) 



BI52.— S !58. Guano in South America is scarcely used but on land where maize and potatoes are culti- 

 vated It is applied to both maize and potatoes when about 2 ft. high, at the rate of a single handful to 

 three different stools of plants. Water must be let on within two or three days after the guano is applied, 

 i Mark Lane Express, as quoted in G. C. 1843, p. 175. ) 



- 53. Potter's artificial guano. Mr. Cotton, of Hildersham Hall, near Cambridge, used it for barley, and 

 obtained 6 quarters per acre ; on grass land the ordinary produce of hay was doubled. On orange mangold 

 wurzel the result was still more striking ; a square yard dressed with common farm-yard manure pro- 

 duced 27 lbs.; another, dressed with Potter's guano, 40 lbs. ; the heaviest root of the latter weighed I5f lbs ; 

 Others 12 lbs. and 13 lbs. The soil was light, with chalk close to the surface. At the rate of weight ob- 

 tained by Mr. Cotton, s>7 tons an acre of mangold wurzel were produced, which is more than double the 

 usual maximum ; and the result of an experiment by Lord Zetland, showed that artificial guano may 

 be emplovcd on grass land with very decided advantage. (G.C. 1843, p. 3.) Potter's guano is com- 

 monly mixed with two or three times its bulk ; with cinder siftings, charcoal powder or peat, soil, or other 

 mould. 



x\:>\ 2250. Cloacine may be disinfected by earth which is very rich in vegetable matter, and by mud 



from ponds. (G. C. 1843, p. 2G0.) 



Cloacine and Bpsom salts, recommended by Liebig as a powerful manure for potatoes. One ton of 

 cloacine without Kpsom salts equal to six tons of the best farm-yard manure. (G. C. 1843, p. 25.) 



8155 2271) The treatment of stable dung by M. Schattenmann, of Boux wilier in Alsace, is thus described 



by himself: " 1 have for many years been in the habit of treating stable-dung in a manner entirely dif- 

 ferent from that commonly in practice. At Bouxwiller I have liad for several years the control of the 

 stable-dung of 200 artillery horses quartered there in a single building, at the back of which lies some 

 land of my own. There 1 have formed a trench for manure occupying 800 square yards superficial, and 

 divided into two equal parts. This trench is an inclined plane which rises forward and right and left, 

 so that all the water which enters it runs down to the middle, where it collects; at that place I have a 

 pump, by means of which I am able at pleasure to return to the manure the water which runs away from 

 it. What water I want, I obtain from a well and pump placed by the side of the manure trench. By 

 these means, at a trifling expense, I obtain that great quantity of water which stable-dung requires, 

 while at the same time I do not lose a drop of the saturated fluid, which eventually is altogether ab- 

 sorbed by the manure by the time that it is taken away, unless I prefer employing it directly, and to replace 

 it by pouring more pure water over the manure. Two halves of my trench are alternately filled from 

 the stables. The litter is made up six or eight yards high over the whole surface of the excavation, 

 trod down by the feet of the men who bring it and spread it, and abundantly watered by the pumps. In this 

 way I have it thoroughly made up, and as much water as I want ; two conditions which I consider indis- 

 pensable, in order to counteract the violent fermentation of the stable-dung, which would destroy the most 

 active parts of the manure, which are volatile. I add to the saturated matter, and I scatter over the 

 manure green vitriol in solution, or gypsum, so as to change into a sulphate the ammonia as it is pro- 

 duced, and which readily flies off at a slightly elevated temperature. By means thus simple and cheap. I 

 obtain in two or three months a mass of manure thoroughly made, as soft and pasty as that of cattle, and 

 of great energy, as is proved by the remarkable results I have obtained both on arable and meadow land 

 for several years. When this manure, or the liquid which flows from it, is applied to land, the most 

 sinking effects are apparent. Litters formed upon a meadow, by pouring it from the spout of a watei ing- 

 pol, speedily acquire a deep rich green, remarkable among the surrounding herbage. It is, however, 

 necessary, in forming such dunghills, that they should be so placed as to allow the water to run com- 

 pletely off them, and that they should be frequently drenched. Farmers do not employ anything like 

 the quantity of water required to decompose stable-dung. Care also must betaken that the litter is 

 thoroughly trodden down by men and horses, as the dunghills are made, partly in 'order to enable it 

 the better to retain its moisture, and partly to check the excessive heating, which drives off' the best 

 part- i f the manure." (Gf. C. 1842, p. 191.) 



-3284. Calcareous manures. Mr. Ruffin, a scientific agriculturist of great repute in the United 

 States, has made many experiments with calcareous manures, and has proved the following proposition-. 

 which would appear to contribute much to the clear elucidation of the causes of the fertilising effects of 

 lime: — 



1 . That soils naturally poor, and rich soils reduced to poverty by cultivation, are essentially different in 

 their powers of retaining putrescent manures ; and, under like circumstances, the fitness of any soil to 

 be enriched by those manures is in proportion to what was its natural fertility. 



2. That the cause of the natural sterility of the soils of Lower Virginia is their being destitute of cal- 

 careous earth, anil their being injured by the presence and effects of vegetable acid. 



3. That the fertilising effects of calcareous earth are chiefly produced by its power of neutralising 

 acids, and of combining putrescent manures with soils, between which there would otherwise be but little, 

 if any. chemical attraction. 



4. That poor and acid soils cannot be improved durably or profitably by putrescent manures, without 

 previously making them calcareous, and thereby correcting the deft Ct in their constitution. 



5. That calcareous manures will give our worst soils a power of retaining putrescent manures, equal 

 to that of the best. 



The proofs of these five propositions will be found at length in the Brit. F. if., new.ser., vol. vii. 

 p. 141. 



8157. 2307. Universal compost. The following ingredients and quantities, it is said, will afford a suf- 

 ficient dressing for an acre of land: — Fifty pounds of vegetable alkali viz., English, Russian, or 

 American potash ; thirty-six pounds, viz., four gallons, of oil of any km! ; one hundred and twelve 

 pounds, viz., two bushels, of common salt ; fifty pounds, or about a bushel, of quicklime. Mix the whole 

 together, the alkali and salt having been previously dissolved in water, and reduce the whole to such a 

 degree of liquidity that it may be poured from the rose of a watering pot on as much light porous soil 

 as will absorb it. ' After this compost has lain some time, it may be carted out, and spread over the acre 



