ON MANURES. 157 



grain has not been improved, and the crops have, in many 

 instances, been found unusually subject to mildew. 



Application. — In answer to some information, requested of 

 Lord Dacre, who has applied it to his land, his Lordship says, 

 that he considers it may be advantageously used as a top- 

 dressing to present crops, in March or April, at the rate of 1^ 

 cwt. per acre; but that it appears to be most profitable to Lent 

 corn and grasses, — both permanent and artificial. Its efiect 

 upon meadow land is great; but, inasmuch as it presses upon 

 the stronger grasses, it may, and probably does, smother the 

 dwarf herbage. His Lordship doubts its having strength to 

 bring wheat to full maturity, though its effect upon the straw 

 is immediate and great. No mildew has attended it; but it 

 produces a rank and dark appearance in the stalk. 



Mr. Curling, of Offley Holes, says it succeeds equally well 

 on all soils, on any sort of corn, or natural or artificial grasses; 

 that it causes an equal increase of both straw and grain, and 

 is far superior to any other light manure. He has not, how- 

 ever, observed any effect on the succeeding crop; in which he 

 is corroborated by other accounts. Generally, it has been 

 found most beneficial to grass-land ; it is destructive to wire- 

 worms,* slugs, and other insects, and it is recommended to be 

 sown after the crop is well up, intimately and carefully mixed 

 with ashes, at the rate of li cwt. to a small cart-load, for one 

 acre of land. 



Regarding the quality, it seems the goodness is measured 

 by the angle at which light is refracted in passing through it; 

 an angle of 5° is called par, and the variations in value are 

 ^ made diminishing or increasing — not the price, but the quan- 

 tity; for as the quality is better as the angle is less, an allow- 

 ance in weight is made accordingly. The inferior sort con- 

 tains common salt. It is tested at Apothecaries' Hall, and the 

 quality marked upon the bags, so that any one who takes 

 the trouble of attending the quarterly sales of the East India 

 Company can at once ascertain its value; but deceptions are 

 constantly practised by the dealers, and as the trade will, 

 perliaps at least at the outset, be less carefully regulated 

 under the new system than formerly, it is not improbable that 

 these frauds will be increased. 



* There is a reiiiarknble instanre mentioned by Mr. Cralih, of Temple 

 Dinsley, on whose land a field of barley was much infested with the. wire- 

 worm, but on top-dressing it with saltpetre, in the month of May, they all 

 died after the first shower of rain. 



