370 



Swedish Turnips raised with Artificial Manure. Vol. X. 



Swedish Turnips raised on barren land 

 with Artificial Manure. 



We have not seen the English journal from which 

 the following is taken— we copy from the J^ew Eng- 

 land Farmer, an excellent paper by the way, and al- 

 ways valuable. The editor has been much interested 

 in the experiment detailed. It is a handsome illustra- 

 tion of the efficiency, in one case at least, of iooAr-/arOT- 

 itig. — Ed. 



The problem which I sought to solve 

 was — Can we, by supplying to the soil the 

 consiiluents — so far as known — of a plant, 

 cultivate that plant successfully on any 

 land, however sterile 1 



The portion of ground chosen for testing 

 the principle here implied, consisted of five 

 acres, and was selected because it appeared 

 the most barren and unlikely in the neigh- 

 bourhood. Scarcely any herbage whatever 

 covered it. On the failure of the hay crop 

 in 1844, a party of poor men from Shaftes- 

 bury, came to me soliciting employment. 

 They were set to dig this piece of land, but 

 the soil proved too thin and stubborn for the 

 spade; they therefore, in their own phrase, 

 "knocked it over" with the pickaxe. Twice 

 in the season afterwards it was sown with 

 rape, but the produce was nothing. 



A soil of this constitution seemed a fair 

 field for the experiment on a pretty large 

 scale and in a popular way. I say in a pop- 

 ular way, because to satisfy the requirements 

 of rigid science, a strict analysis both of the 

 soil and manure would be asked for, before 

 any inference would be permitted to be 

 drawn from the result. Yet for practical 

 purposes, it may seem enough to show that 

 on land growing nothing, a large crop can 

 be raised by adding ingredients which the 

 chemist tells us are necessary for the fruit- 

 ful cultivation of that crop. 



Accordingly, in the latter part of April, 

 1845, I determined on seeing whether on 

 this piece of land it were possible to produce 

 a crop of Swedes weighing twenty tons to 

 the acre. 



To effect this object, chemical analysis, 

 as given in Professor Johnstone's Lectures, 

 acquaints us that there would be required 

 for the bulbs and tops of such a product, in- 

 organic matter weighing more than .300 lbs. ; 

 consisting of about 146 lbs. potash, 76 lbs. 

 soda, 69 lbs. sulphuric acid, 30 lbs. phospho- 

 ric acid, 103 lbs. lime, 22 lbs. magnesia, 23 

 lbs. chlorine, 23 lbs. silica, as well as a cer- 

 tain portion of organic matters, in the form 

 of ammonia and carbonic acid. It was ex- 

 pected that if these were sufficiently sup- 

 plied to the plant in its early stages, the re- 

 mainder of the carbonic acid and ammonia 

 necessary to the perfection of the crop, 



would be furnished either — as Mulder af- 

 firms, — from the decaying matter in the 

 soil, or from the ammonia brought down in 

 the rains, according to Liebig. 



The quantities of inorganic substances 

 above enumerated, are not constant, but 

 vary, as is well known, within certain lim- 

 its, according to the soil : they must be con- 

 sidered only as an approximation to the 

 quantities and proportions required. 



Now as potash and soda may, to a great 

 extent, replace each other, I calculated that 

 30 bushels of wood ashes would give those 

 alkalies in sufficient measure. I made no 

 provision for the alkaline earths, supposing 

 that the chalk in the soil would yield lime 

 enough. The sulphuric and phosphoric 

 acids would be found amply in the two cwt. 

 of Ichaboe guano, 50 lbs. of burnt bones dis- 

 solved in sulphuric acid, in addition to the 

 sulphates and phosphates contained in the 

 wood ashes. The guano would also yield 

 sufficient ammonia to the young Swede 

 plant; whilst two loads of saw-dust, already 

 in a rotten state, having been fermented by 

 pigs' manure and salt, would give out a con- 

 stant supply of carbonic acid, as well as con- 

 duce — according to Mulder — to the constant 

 formation of ammonia in the soil. The great 

 affinity of decaying sawdust for moisture, 

 would prevent the efl^ects of drought so 

 formidable to turnips on our high chalk- 

 lands. The opposite danger of excessive 

 rains washing the manure away from the 

 growing plants, was guarded against by 

 pouring over the guano and ashes employed, 

 10 lbs. of sulphuric acid in a diluted form, 

 thereby converting tjie highly soluble car- 

 bonates into the comparatively insoluble 

 sulphates of ammonia and potash. 



In order that every portion of the manure 

 thus calculated, might, as far as possible, be 

 duly apportioned to each plant, it was deter- 

 mined to bury both the seed and manure in 

 holes at measured distances ; but the loose- 

 ness of the soil, filling up each hole as soon 

 as made, defeated this expedient. The la- 

 bourers were then instructed to begin at the 

 highest point, and working downhill, to 

 strike down with their hoes, small drills 

 two feet apart. The manure having been 

 previously hauled to the summit, a large 

 wheelbarrow, loaded with a sufficient quan- 

 tity for two drills, was wheeled down the 

 interval between the two drills; and a hand- 

 ful of the contents placed at distances of 

 one foot in each drill. Children followed, 

 dropping upon each deposit of manure three 

 fingers full of seed, mixed with fine soil, 

 which served to prevent the manure from 

 burning the seed. In descending the hill 

 they trod on their work, and so buried both 



