26 On Liquid Manure. 



and even large crops. Witness, for instance, the almost sterile 

 sands which abound iri Flanders, and the astonishing change 

 which it effects upon them. 



Provided the subsoil be well drained or of a porous nature, it 

 may be safely asserted that any sandy soil, however sterile ^in 

 its natural state, may be made to yield heavy crops through the 

 instrumentality of liquid manure. Indeed the poorer the soil 

 the more striking would be the result. 



For poor, sandy soils, the system of liquid manuring cannot 

 be too highly recommended, for I believe that all other plans 

 of applying fertilizing materials to them will be found far less 

 efficacious in their results. If we examine into the chemical and 

 physical characters of soils similar to those which abound in 

 Flanders, we shall not be long in discovering the causes of the 

 astonishing success which has crowned the system of liquid 

 manuring in Belgium and other countries. 



In order to render more intelligible the explanation of the 

 causes of the highly beneficial effects which liquid manure pro- 

 duces under these circumstances, I may be allowed to introduce 

 here the composition of two sandy soils which I have lately 

 examined. 



Composition of Two Sandy Soils from the neighbourhood of Cirencester. 



No. I. No. II. 



Organic matter and a little water of combination 5'36 4'82 



Oxide of iron and alumina 5*78 12*16 



Carbonate of lime '25 '15 



Potash, soda, and magnesia '49 '46 



Phosphoric acid none. faint trace. 



Sulphuric acid trace. trace. 



Chlorine trace. trace. 



Insoluble silicious matter (chiefly fine quartz) QQ.-IO oo /ti 



sand with but little clay) I b 



100-00 100-00 



It will be observed that both soils abound in quartz-sand and 

 are deficient in clay and lime. No. I. especially is very sandy, 

 and even poorer than No. II., for I could not detect in it any 

 phosphoric acid, and found in it less clay than in No. II. 



On land of that description, corn, roots, or grass cannot pos- 

 sibly be grown with advantage without manure, for in these soils 

 all the more important mineral constituents which are required 

 for sustaining a healthy and luxuriant vegetation, are either 

 altogether absent, or are greatly deficient. Thus No. I. con- 

 tains no appreciable quantity of phosphoric acid, and No. II. 

 mere traces. Again, it will be noticed that lime, which in smaller 

 or larger quantities is contained in every kind of agricultural 

 produce, occurs very sparingly in these soils, and that the per- 



