THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



483 



wheat may be converted to cheat. We trust now 

 that believers will try some of the most easy and 

 eure of these experiments; and ihen, (if Mr. S. 

 is riirht,) the diHiculty will not be to find some one 

 entitled to our offered premium ol' ^100, but who 

 shaW first present and prove his claim. We very 

 readily abide the issue. All the steps of several 

 of the modes of experiment indicated above are 

 susceptible oC the clearest proof; and all we re- 

 quire is that full proof of the (acts shall be made 

 out and exhioited.— Ed. F. K.] 



EXPERIMENTS ON NITRATE OF SODA AND 

 SALTPETRE. BY W. STRATFORD Dl'GDAr.E, 

 M. P. 



from the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 



Many communications having been forwarded 

 to the socieiy on the value of salipeire and niliate 

 of soda as manuies, perhaps the result of an ex- 

 periment I have made upon two fields of wheat, 

 eight miles distant from each other, may not be 

 uninteresting. One field is of a licht gravelly 

 soil, whirh was manured with a coat of marl in 

 the autumn before the wheat was sown. The 

 other field is of a stiff clayey soil, and was ma- 

 nured with lime in the autumn. About the mid- 

 dle of last April I measured off three quarters of 

 an acre in the field of gravelly soil, and sowed 

 one quarter with saltpetre, one with nitrate of 

 soda, and left the remaining quarter with nothing 

 but the, marl. 



I also measured off four quarters of an acre in 

 the clayey field, and sowed one quarter wirh salt- 

 petre, one with nitrate of soda, one with soot, 

 and lef\ the remaining quarter with lime only. 

 In both cases the quantity of saltpetre and soda 

 was as one hundred weight to the acre. In the 

 gravelly field the produce of thequarter of an acre 

 wnh nitrate of soda was, of — 



Wheat , . . ISbush.apecks, weighing63 2 31bs. per busli. 



Straw ... 9 cwt. 72 lbs. 



Chaff and waste, 2 qrs. 27ibs. 



Saltpetre, — • 



Wheat . . . lObush.2 l-2peck.s,w'ging64 1 4lbs.perbiisli, 



Straw . . . ,8 cwt. 56 lbs. 



Chaff and waste, iJ qrs, 24 Ibb. 



Marl only, — 



Wheat . . . 10 bushels 2 pecl<s,weigliin!,'t;4 lbs. per bush. 



Straw . . . 8 cwt. 54 lbs. 



Chaff and waste, 1 cwt. 



-The produce o( half an 



in the clayey field 

 acre, manured with — 



Bsh. 



18 

 17 

 17 

 16 



pk. 



1 



2 



I 







lbs. 



weighing 64 per bush. 



63 



631-3 

 62 2 3 



Nitrate of soda, wheat 

 Do. with saltpetre , 

 Do. with soot . 

 Do. with lime only 



In ihis experiment my bailiff' did not measure 

 the quamilieti of straw and wasie. 



I also sowed some soda and saltpetre, to ilie 

 same amount per acre, on some grass-land. 



I was not at home when the hay was cut ; but 

 am informed that the crop was greatly increased, 

 particularly by the nitrate of soda. 



2. Trial (f nitrate of soda. By Joshua Rod- 

 well, es(/. 



1839, July 12. — 1 cwt. per acre upon lucerne, 



after the first mowinir, the first year. Benefit not 



equal to the cost, and much inlerior to the same 

 (•().<i in soot, by which it was tested : the eool at 

 8(/. per bushel. 



.July 20. — 1 cwt. per acre upon beet-root ; every 

 alternate stetch 6 acres. Hoed in with the se- 

 cond hoeing. Benefit not equivalent to the cost ; 

 scarcely apparent, except in the color of the 

 leaves. 



.July 26. — 1 cwt. per acre for Swedish turhips ; 

 partalier the first, and some alter the second hoe- 

 ing. 4 acres. The effect scarcely apparent ; by 

 no means equal to ihe cost. ^ 



July and August. — 1 cwt. per acre for white 

 turnips, in every staiie of their growth after being 

 well up, belbre and alier hoeing. No benefii. 



1840, May 23. — I cwt. per acre upon pease, 

 2 acres ; barley, 2 Hcres ; wheat, 2 acres. Bene- 

 fit not equivalent to the cost, but the greatest upon 

 the barley. 



N. B. The white clover after the barley failed 

 where the nitrate was used. 



June 1. — Wheat, 2 acres; barley, 10 acres. 

 1 cwt. an acre. The barley increased in quan- 

 tity equal to the cost, but layer not so good as 

 where no soda was sown ; the wheat increased 

 in quantity, but not equal in quality. I have 

 since Ibund that the layer of white clover is al- 

 most destroyed. 



N. B. In the above the experiments are made 

 upon dry soils, with sand, sandy loams, and crag 

 subsoils, and the lands in the common course of 

 husbandry. The nitrate of soda 26s. per cwt. ; 

 and expenses of carriage and sowing 2s. per 

 acre : and the experiments tested by very close 

 observation, but not in weight or measure. 



Alderton fVoodbridge, May 10, 1841. 



3. I'rials of nitrate of soda. By Charles Newman. 



To the secretary — sir, — I am induced to offer 

 you a Hew observations and a statement of the 

 result of my experiments on nitrate of soda, as 

 though not extensive, they may tend in some 

 degree to confirm the interesting reports on the 

 same subject in the last and Ibrmer numbers of 

 the Society's Journal. The first trial I made of 

 it was in 1839, on wheat, oats, and grass ; as far 

 as Ihe eye could discover, each of them made a 



j very salislactory progress in a lew days alter it 

 was applied. Thus encouraged, I determined to 



j make another trial, on a larger scale, the follow- 

 ing year. I purchased my nitrate of soda at 2U. 

 per ton, including cariatre, an<i used it on all my 

 crops : — 



1. On part of a field of barley ; in which I could per- 

 csive but little .ditierence, the whole of the field 

 being a heavy crop, and much laid. 



2. On clover; the result was the same, which I attri- 

 buted to the high condition of the laud. 



3. On spring-tares : two weelvS after they were up 

 the crop increased considerably, and was cut green 

 for the horses. 



4. On meadow : not qift4e so .vatisfactoiy as in Ihe 

 (brn;eryear; tliis I considered arose also from the 

 lii<;b condition of the land. 



.5. On wheat ; this was an exceedingly thin crop, pro- 

 duced by the unfavorable autumn, the land being so 

 wet when the seed was sown that half of it rotted ; 

 indeed the plant was so thin that I had determined 

 to plough it up, but considered it an excellent op- 

 portunity to try the mevit.* of Ihe nitrate Havino- 



