52 



trial. The second method is dithcult to apply in many seasons, 

 except at the end of a baire fallow, when mustard is often grown 

 for turning in before winter corn. Various details of green 

 manuring practice are described. 



LVIII. E. J. Russell. ''The Possibility of Using Town 

 Refuse as Manure." Journal of Ministry of 

 Agriculture, 1922. Vol. XXIX. pp. 685-691. 



Six types of refuse are sent from four towns :— 



1. — "Dry" refuse : the contents of refuse bins and "dry" 

 ashpits. 



2. — Separated dust : finely divided material separated mechan- 

 ically from the dry refuse through a fin. or 5/1 6in. sieve. 



3. — "Mixed" refuse : the contents of privy middens and ash 

 closets. 



4. — Night soil : the contents of pails containing crude faecal 

 matter only ; this is produced in towns where the pail system is 

 used. When dried and granulated it contains some 5|% 

 nitrogen, 5i% phosphates and 2^% potash. 



5. — Mixed night soil : i.e., dry refuse, plus night soil, or 

 separated dust, plus night soil, mixed in certain proportions. A 

 50% mixture offered at Rochdale contains 2.9% nitrogen, 3.6% 

 phosphates (half being soluble and half insoluble), and 1.2% 

 potash. 



Market and slaughter-house refuse are sometimes mixed with 

 1, 2, 3 and 5. 



6. — Street sweepings and other wastes. 



Of these, 4 and 6 are well known to farmers. 



The dry refuse in the more progressive towns is sorted over 

 for the removal of bottles, metals and other saleable commodities. 

 It is usually in good physical condition for putting on to the 

 ground and for lightening a heavy soil. Its composition, how- 

 ever, is not particularly good in spite of its smell. Improvement 

 is effected by enriching with a certain amount of other waste 

 matter, such as street sweepings, slaughter-house refuse, stable 

 manure, etc., and the final analysis comes out something like the 

 following : — 



Organic matter 25 % -40 % 



Nitrogen 0.4%-0.6% 



Phosphoric acid (P,O.0 .... 0.3%-0.5% 

 Equivalent to tric^alcic phosphate 



(Ca3(PO,J.,) 0.7%-l.l% 



Potash (K,0) 0.3%-0.5% 



Farmers who use this material speak well of it and agricultural 

 experimenters could well include it in their list of substances to 

 be tried on the field. 



AKTIIK lAL FKKTILISKKS. 



LIX. H. J. PAcii-:. "The Agricultural Value of Modern 

 Fertilisers." Raw Materials Review, 1923. 

 pp. 111-112. 



A discussion of the relative merits of present-day nitrogenous, 

 potassic, phosphatic and organic fertilisers, 



