EXPERIMENTS IN CULTIVATION AND MANURES. 



539 



those plants which had grown upon it. 2. la 

 the renewed trial, whether artificial manures 

 might not equalize the productiveness of good 

 and bad grain, the latter being lei't without 

 any artificial aid tor five months, more than 

 half of it either did not grow or was de- 

 sti-oyed in the winter, and it was necessary 

 to take up the whole of the remaining plants 

 and divide them. Being tlien replanted they 

 scarcely covered the ground, and stood at 

 such distances from each other as would have 



satisfied the stoutest advocate for thin sow- 

 ing. As soon as they had taken root again 

 they were watered with the solutions, and 

 through the summer they were remarkable 

 for the dark-green, vigorous appearance of 

 the foliage ; but the straw was shorter than 

 the rest, and was later in ripening by a week 

 or ten days. The results of this ti-eatment 

 and the produce of this year compared with 

 that of the last ai'e shown in the subjoined 

 Tables : 



Names of Manuhes. 



Good Seed. 



Pliospliate of potash, 4 lbs 



Phosphate of potash, 2 lbs.. } 

 Sulphate ammonia, 2 lbs . . J 



Sulphate ammonia, 4 lbs 



No manure 



Bad Seed. 



Phosphate potash, 4 lbs 



Phosphate potash, 2 lbs . > 



Sulphate ammonia, 2 lbs. .. ^ 



Sulphate ammonia, 4 lbs 



No manure 



1847. 



Here three facts call for remark : 1. In ev- 

 ery instance the phosphate of potash seems 

 to have caused a greater production of straw 

 and less of corn ; and in one case the sul- 

 phate of ammonia had the same effect, but 

 the same weight of manure, consisting of the 

 two combined, produced a very considerable 

 increase of both. 'i. Instead of a diminution 

 resulting from a repetition of the same crop, 

 we see in every instance but one a great in- 

 crease this year of both, even on those parts 

 which received no addition of foreign ma- 

 nure, and the single e.xception is more appa- 

 rent than real ; for the great increase of straw 

 shows that the falling off was due to some ac- 

 cidental cause. The seasons, which are be- 

 yond our control, sometimes produce effects 

 of which we can render no account ; but a 

 part, at least, of the increase may be ascribed 

 to the inorganic elements, which were slowly 

 elaborated from the soil in the summer by 

 the weeds being restored to the roots of the I 

 com in a more soluble and therefore in a | 

 more available state in the shape of ashes. 

 3. Though the bad seed did not yield more 

 than the good, as it did last year, yet in 

 proportion to the quantity of straw the pro- 



duce of corn was greater, and therefore the 

 difference must be ascribed to the thinness 

 of the plant upon the ground ; and, farther, 

 not only was the whole amount of corn from 

 the bad seed this year greater than the whole 

 amount from the good seed last year, but in 

 one instance it surpassed the good this year 

 too, and surpassed it not only in quantity but 

 in quality, for the value is tested not by meas- 

 ure but by weight. Much of this success 

 must no doubt be attributed to the complete 

 consolidation of the soil, by the trampling of 

 the transplanters, and the application of the 

 manure to the plants exactly at the critical 

 period of their growth when they were best 

 able to appropriate to their organization the 

 food with which they were sujjplied. The 

 next chemical manures tried upon a some- 

 what smaller space of ground were the same 

 as before — sulphate of soda, phosphate of 

 soda, muriate of ammonia, and nitrate of pot- 

 ash. All the seeds were first steeped in a 

 solution of these salts, and half of them in the 

 following spring watered with C lbs. of them. 

 For the purpose of comparison the produce ia 

 given both of last year and this : 



Names of Manures. 



Sulphate of soda watered 



steeped only 

 Phosphate of soda watered . . 



steeped onlj' 

 Muriate of ammonia watered. 



steeped only 

 Nitrate of potash watered 



steeped only 



The same remarks apply to these as to the [ tered with the solution produced in both 



former experiments, except that the phos- years, not only less grain but less straw, too, 



phate of soda seems to be more injurious than than where the seed was only steeped. ' But 



the pho.sphate of potash, since the wheat wa- j with the single exception of that which waa 



(1019) 



