356 



Experiments with recently introduced Manures. Vol. VI. 



Experiments with recently introduced 

 Manures. 



By John Grey, Esq., Dilstoii, Northumberland, (Eng.) 



As the results of experiments already be- 

 fore the public are seen to vary much, both 

 from the quality of the soil and the descrip- 

 tion of crop to which these manures have 

 been applied, and as it seems necessary to 

 bring; under review a great number of such 

 results, for the purpose of determining with 

 reasonable certainty, the kind of land and of 

 crop to which these several manures are to be 

 applied with full success, the following de- 

 tails may perhaps be considered not unworthy 

 public notice. 



On the 28th of April, 1840, I sowed upon 

 each alternate ridge of a plot of land consist- 

 ing of four acres of good gravelly loam, which 

 had lain three years in grass and was thickly 

 covered with plants, nitrate of soda at the 

 rate of 112 lbs. per acre, having ascertained 

 the exact contents of each ridge and divided 

 the nitrate accurately into the right propor- 

 tions. To some of the alternate ridges 1 ap- 

 plied gypsum, at the rate of ten bushels per 

 acre. To one ridge, I applied both the ni- 

 trate and gypsum ; and three ridges were 

 left without any application whatever. The 

 grass, to which the nitrate was applied, in a 

 few days assumed a darker colour than the 

 other; rose quickly above it in height, came 

 earlier to seed, and was sooner fit for cutting. 

 The plot was all mown and made into hay at 

 the same time, great attention being paid to 

 keep the produce of each of the ridges in- 

 tended for the experiment, distinct. The fol- 

 lowing is the weight of hay produced by each 

 plot; the aftermath of those ridges to which 

 the nitrate was applied, was obviously better 

 than the others. 



1. 112 square yards without any manure, 

 produced 9 stones 4 lbs. of hay, weighed when 

 newly made : equal to 2 tons 81 stones per 

 acre. 



2. 112 square yards, to which gypsum had 

 been applied at the rate of 10 bushels per 

 acre, gave exactly the same result; so that 

 no benefit whatever arose from its use in this 

 instance. It must be remembered, however, 

 that the grasses are of the ordinary kinds 

 used in pasture, that is, white clover, rye- 

 grass, timothy, &.C., but without red clover, 

 to which gypsum is known to be beneficial. 



8. 112 square yards, to which nitrate of 

 soda had been applied at the rate of 112 lb. 

 per acre, produced 14 stones 7 lbs. ; equal to 

 3 tons 146 stones per acre, being an increase 

 of 1 ton 65 stones, over Nos. 1 and 2. 



4. 112 square yards, to which both nitrate 

 of soda and gypsum had been applied in the 

 above quantities, produced 14 stones; equal 

 to 3 tons 125 stones per acre, and 21 stones 



less than the produce where nitrate alone was 

 applied. The cost of the nitrate and carriage 

 was 22 shillings per 112 lbs., and the increased 

 value of hay per acre, as it stood in the field, 

 would be from four to five pounds sterling. 



From the many experiments which have 

 been made, and which have all proved more 

 or less beneficial, no doubt can be entertained 

 that nitrate of soda is generally efficacious in 

 the production of grass; but several experi- 

 ments may yet be necessary to ascertain on 

 which descriptions of soil and to what class 

 of plants it is most so, and to what particular 

 stage of their growth it is to be applied with 

 the greatest benefit. I am inclined to think, 

 that it ought not to be sown upon the grass 

 until that has risen considerably from the 

 ground, and the leaves are sufficiently evolved 

 to derive all the benefit. I applied nitrate 

 of soda to a row of potatoes at an early period 

 of their growth ; the tops soon showed the 

 efl^ect, and they far outstripped the adjoining 

 rows in growth; but when the potatoes were 

 taken up, the produce of that row was found 

 to be less than that of the others, both in 

 weight and measure. Now, the first action 

 of the potatoc plant is to throw out its top; 

 the tubers make thsir growth at a later pe- 

 riod ; it seems, therefore, in this instance, that 

 the stimulus of the nitrate had expended it- 

 self in the earlier process, and that, instead 

 of being benefited, the tubers had suffered by 

 the application, probably from the greater 

 shade and weight of the top. It is possible, 

 that if the drills had been much wider, so as 

 to admit of sufficient air, the result might 

 have been different, 



I applied nitrate and gypsum to alternate 

 ridges of different kinds of grain and at vari- 

 ous stages of its growth, but the quantity of 

 rain that fell in this part of the country, both 

 previous to, and during the time of harvest, 

 had the effect of producing so much straw 

 and of laying the corn so flat, that it wan 

 found difficult to cut the plots so as to keep 

 the produce distinct, and was also in other 

 respects so unfavourable to the experiment, 

 that 1 cannot reckon upon the result being 

 correct and satisfactory. In one case, where 

 the barley was very bulky and in consequence 

 much lodged, the grass seeds were found to 

 be weak and worse than in other parts of the 

 field, but in another instance, the reverse of 

 this was the case. The crop in the latter 

 case was a thin one of winter wheat, on poor 

 clay land. Four ridges were sown with ni- 

 trate when the wheat was about a foot high; 

 little effect was perceptible during its growth, 

 save in a darker shade which it assumed, as 

 is common to all crops when nitrate is ap- 

 plied ; and on being cut, those ridges produced 

 so few sheaves more than the others, as did 

 not induce me to keep their produce separate; 



