MANURES. 



MANURES. 



petus which it will probably never lose, for 

 with its use is now almost inseparably con- 

 nected the cultivation of some of the most ex- 

 tensive districts of the poor light lands in the 

 north of England; such as on the Wolds of 

 Lincolnshire, and the sands of Nottingham- 

 shire. See BOXKS. 



The most recent improvement in the manure- 

 drill is that of Mr. Grounsel of Louth, for which 

 the English Agricultural Society awarded 

 him, in 1839, their silver medal. It is an at- 

 tempt, and an excellent one too, to imitate the 

 dibbling system, so as not only to save seed, 

 but the manure also. And although, in all re- 

 searches of this nature, it is especially neces- 

 sary to proceed with great care, and to regard 

 single experiments with caution, yet what has 

 been yet experienced of its powers is certainly 

 of a nature to induce farther and more extend- 

 ed trials; since it is evident that this drill can 

 apply, and evenly too, as small a quantity of 

 crushed bones or ashes as six bushels per 

 acre. In reply to some inquiries of mine, the 

 inventor says, "My drill will deposit from 6 

 to 100 bushels per acre of any kind of compost 

 that may be prepared for drilling, from 10 

 inches to any greater distance apart in the 

 rows, with turnips or grain, and either in a wet 

 or dry condition ; but I recommend, from ex- 

 perience, ashes to be applied in a wet state, 

 especially in a dry turnip-seed season, for then 

 the seeds vegetate much sooner. Another 

 equally excellent drop, and common drill, is 

 that made by Mr. Hornsby of Grantham." See 

 DRILL. 



Admitting the truth of these experiments, 

 that one-half the quantity of organic manures 

 usually spread on the land is sufficient, when 

 applied by the drill, in immediate contact with 

 the seed, what a field is thus opened for the 

 manuring of much larger breadths of land 

 than has hitherto been deemed possible. The 

 complaints of the deficiency of manures, which 

 are now so prevalent with farmers, need then 

 no longer be heard. Their crops will be pro- 

 perly nourished, and the manure applied with 

 them will be not only bestowed in the most 

 scientific manner, but it will lead to other im- 

 provements ; it will enable the farmer to mix 

 his manures, according to the nature of his 

 soil and his crop, with much more facility than 

 at present: he will then study, not merely the 

 economy to be regarded in its distribution, but 

 also its quality, or chemical composition, and 

 to what soils the manure is best adapted. 



There is one class of fertilizers, however, 

 whose application by the drill requires great 

 caution ; I allude to the saline manures, for 

 they are often much too powerful in their ope- 

 ration to be safely applicable in their pure 

 state or in large proportions. Common salt 

 has, in this way, carried great destruction by 

 being drilled in with the seed, and I have wit- 

 nessed equally disastrous effects from applying 

 the lime of the gas-works (sulphuret of lime) 

 in the same way. Yet when the seed-wheat is 

 wetted with a nearly saturated solution of salt, 

 and then rolled in lime, or the salt and lime are 

 not used until they have been mixed together 

 for three months, and then sown on the land 

 broadcast,- -or when the gas-lime is previously 



mixed with four or five times its bulk of sifted 

 mould or ashes, then I have seen the most 

 excellent effects produced by its being drilled 

 with the turnip-seed: the same remarks apply 

 to the chloride of lime of the calico-bleachers. 

 Other salts, whose action is less energetic, or 

 which are applied in very small proportions, 

 are perhaps best applied by the drill ; for in- 

 stance, saltpetre, which is rarely applied in 

 larger proportion than 1^ cwt. per acre, may 

 very likely be still further reduced in quantity, 

 especially if mixed with other substances, such 

 as three or four times its bulk of mould. Mr. 

 Beadel of Witham, in Essex, a very excellent 

 farmer, has found, that where saltpetre was 

 applied to his turnips broadcast as atop-dress- 

 ing, it did not succeed, but it did so very de- 

 cidedly when it was drilled with the seed. 



In those situations where night-soil, or sprats, 

 or bones cannot be obtained at a sufficiently 

 reasonable rate, very great effects may be pro- 

 duced by the careful collection of the excre- 

 ments of domestic animals, and mixing them 

 with merely a sufficient quantity of dry ashes, 

 mould, saw-dust, or, what is best of all, recently 

 prepared finely powdered charcoal, to render 

 them sufficiently friable to pass the drill: this 

 is very easily accomplished, by making the 

 preparation under cover some months before 

 it is used, and, if necessary, by causing it to 

 be spread in the sun. By the adoption of 

 these means, a very recent mixture will be 

 found available by the farmer; the excrements 

 of the horse, cow, and especially the sheep 

 (still more so if fed with oil-cake), will be 

 found excellent for this purpose. And in very 

 small proportions the Peruvian farmers, ac- 

 cording to Humboldt, employ the guano, or ex- 

 crements of seafowl (which abound in phos- 

 phate of lime, or earthy salt of bones), which 

 is brought in sailing vessels, from the rocky 

 islands of the Pacific, expressly for the use of 

 the cultivators of that republic. See GUAXO. 



And that bones might be very profitably 

 mixed with other fertilizers, so as to materially 

 reduce the expense of the manure, is indicated 

 by more than one successful experiment. To 

 give another instance, which has recently been 

 communicated to me, in the trials made by 

 Daniel Dixon, Esq. of West Clandon, in Sur- 

 rey. "On a poor chalk soil," observed an ex- 

 cellent and scientific friend of mine, "he has 

 used a compost for a manure-drill for turnips 

 with great advantage. He puts 8 bushels of 

 ground bones with 24 bushels of any ashes he 

 can get together in a dry place, and i~om time 

 to time (as often as possible) ha empties the 

 liquid sewerage of the house upon it. In two 

 or three months it is fit for use, working well 

 out of the drill. The above is the quantity for 

 an acre. The effect of drilling this mixture 

 with the seed was very remarkable, and as 

 bone-manure was drilled by the side of it, the 

 contrast was at once visible ; the difference 

 was more than double. In fact, the bones by 

 themselves seemed comparatively use'ess. 

 The soil on which the mixture has been ap 

 plied is poor, chalky, and flinty, abutting upon 

 the sheep-walks and Guildford race-course. 

 Whenever the mixture is too wet for the drill, 

 it is spread to dry for a day or two" (Letlci$ 



777 



