MANURES. 



a ton per acre only) ; the 2 cwt. of gypsum ap- 

 plied to sainfoin and clover; the 1 cwt. of salt- 

 petre, or of nitrate of soda, used on the same 

 extent of land, all indicate the truth of the case, 

 that it is not absolutely necessary to apply fer- 

 tilizers of any kind in such great masses as 

 are commonly deemed essential by the cultiva- 

 tor. I was told not long since by an excellent 

 farmer of Middlesex, Mr. George Sherbourn, 

 that he had succeeded in producing the finest 

 crops of turnips by merely mixing about 30 

 bushels of coal-ashes per acre with 3 gallons 

 of train-oil, and drilling these oiled ashes with 

 the seed. It is a folly, therefore, to contend 

 that the careless way in which organic ma- 

 nures of all kinds are usually employed is the 

 most economical, and susceptible of no im- 

 provement. Such complacent feelings have 

 ever been the bane of agricultural improve- 

 ment ; for it is then certain to follow as a 

 natural result, that the system which the culti- 

 vator deems perfect will, in his hands, remain 

 as he found it. Having no hope for better 

 things, better modes will by him never be dis- 

 covered. 



Some recent experiments on a very broad 

 scale, in the forest of Darnaway in Scotland, 

 have shown that the application of a quan- 

 tity of lime under each seedling tree, even so 

 small an amount as 4 bushels per acre, has 

 been productive of the most excellent effects, 

 imparting to the plantation a degree of luxuri- 

 ance hardly credible. The same advantage, 

 therefore, which is derivable from the applica- 

 tion of a very small quantity of organic ma- 

 nure, in immediate contact with the growing 

 plant, is evidently also derivable from a much 

 smaller quantity of earthy manures than the 

 farmer commonly supposes. 



There are several advantages derivable from 

 placing the seed in direct contact with the 

 manure, to which the farmer very rarely at- 

 tend-.. For instance, the germinating seed in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of the fertilizer 

 is by this means well nourished at the very 

 period of its growth when it most needs assist- 

 ance to enable it to develope its fibres, and to 

 extend its roots. The young plant, so situated, 

 is not exhausted in its extension ; it avoids the 

 usual fate of those crops which tenant poor 

 soils, whose roots are obliged to penetrate some 

 distance in search of the requisite degree of 

 nourishment On the contrary, the strength 

 of the plant is thrown into the stem and the 

 leaves, and the crop flourishes luxuriantly ; for 

 the leaves and roots of the invigorated and 

 healthy plant are enabled to absorb the gases 

 and aqueous vapour of the atmosphere, by 

 which the plant is nourished in the most com- 

 plete manner. The very mechanical effect, 

 too, of placing the decomposing organic ma- 

 nure in direct contact with the roots of vegeta- 

 bles, facilitating the free access to them of the 

 atmospheric gases and vapour, would be alone 

 a sufficient reason for the adoption of the 

 manure drill system, even if we say nothing 

 of the other certain advantages of the plan, 

 such as, in the case of decomposing fertilizers, 

 the presentation of the gases of putrefaction 

 to the roots of the plant, at the moment of their 

 extrication, and the economical and forcing 



MANURES. 



effects of this mode of distributing the manure. 

 The farmer, in fact, tells us that the plan is 

 probably a good one, but then his explanation 



the derived benefit is very erroneous. He 

 informs us, that thus to push forward the 

 rowth of the young crop is very likely to be 

 good husbandry, especially on light soils, 

 since, by this means, where the ground is well 

 covered with the crop, "the moisture is kept in, 

 and the sun is kept out" If the cultivator would 

 but remember, that the quantity of moisture 

 transpired by a given surface of a growing 

 crop is considerably greater than that emitted 

 by the most naked fallow, he would no longer 

 be content with such an explanation as this. 



Dr. Hales ascertained that a cabbage trans- 

 mits into the atmosphere by insensible vapour, 

 about half its weight of vapour daily ; and that 

 a sunflower, three feet in height, transpired, in 

 the same period, nearly two pounds weight. 

 Dr. Woodward found that a sprig of mint, 

 weighing 27 grains, in 77 days emitted 2543 

 grains of water; a sprig of spearmint, weigh- 

 ing 27 grains, emitted, in the same time, 2558 

 grains; a sprig of common nightshade, weigh- 

 ing 49 grains, evolved 3708 grains ; and a 

 lathyrus, of 98 grains, emitted 2501. 



It I were asked to produce any evidence of 

 the extreme difficulty with which agricultural 

 improvements, even of the most undoubted 

 value, are introduced, I should at once instance 

 the manure-drill, the progress of which has 

 been slow for it has shared the fate of very 

 many other scientific efforts: it has been zea- 

 lously opposed by the ignorant, neglected by 

 the indolent, and ridiculed by the bigoted 

 farmer, as an innovation upon the good old 

 system of the days of the patriarchs of agricul- 

 ture, when the earth brought forth its fruits in 

 abundance, and the very seeds were not sown 

 by man. But even here this solitary argument 

 of the adherent to old customs fails; for the 

 Chinese (the most expert of farmers) and the 

 cultivators of Japan and of Arabia have drilled 

 and dibbled in their seed from time immemo- 

 rial. The natives of the Carnatic do the same; 

 and after they have thus deposited their seed, 

 the Hindoos use a kind of subsoil-plough, 

 which passes under, and loosens, to the depth 

 of about eight inches, the soil under, about 

 three drills' breadth at a time. And so preju- 

 diced are the natives of those empires, too, in 

 favour of the customs of their ancestors so 

 rarely do they introduce new modes of culti- 

 vation, that it has been very reasonably con- 

 cluded that the drill system, so far from being 

 entitled to the appellation of "the new hus- 

 bandry," ought rather to be classed with those 

 branches of the sciences which degenerated, or 

 were lost in the dark ages. 



Sir George Staunton, in his Account of Lord 



Macartney's Embassy to China, says (vol. ii. p. 



375) "Near Sanchoo, wheat was perceived 



growing for the first time in China. It was, 



though on a dry sandy soil, where no rain had 



fallen for the three preceding months, looking 



remarkably well. It was very neatly sown in 



| drills, or dibbled, according to the method used 



| of late in some parts of England. A gentleman 



; of the embassy calculated that the saving of 



i the seed alone in China by this drill husbandry, 



775 



