188 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



from hating seen the matter hinted at in the Gazette. 

 W. Drummond <J Son, Stirling. 



Bones.— In the Agricultural Gazette of the 13th ulr., 

 I observe some remarks, under the signature ** E. R., 

 Halifax," with details of a conversation on the subject of 

 that manure with a Roxburgh farmer, from which it is 

 inferred that unboiled are preferable to boiled bones. For 

 years back I have been in the habit of using bones largely, 

 and have made trial of both sorts of bones. The result 

 of my experience is, that boiled are infinitely preferable to 

 unboiled bones. The boiled bones I made use of were 

 procured from a large establishment in Aberdeen for the 

 manufacture of soups for exportation, and had been sub- 

 jected to a thorough boiling. I obtained them whole, and 

 had them ground for myself. The first season I tried 

 them to the extent of I ton, and at the rate of 18 bushels 

 per imperial acre ; and to test them thoroughly, I ap- 

 plied, beside them, in the same field, and at the same rate 

 per acre, a ton of unboiled bones. The result proved tiie 

 superiority of the boiled, as I had double the crop of Tur- 

 nips from them that I had from the other. The two fol- 

 lowing seasons I increased my supply of boiled bones 

 from 1 to 7 tons ; and, had I not found guano a less ex- 

 pensive and equally effective manure, would have given up 

 using any other extraneous manure than boiled bones. 

 Last year I believe these bones were all purchased by the 

 Duke of Richmond's land-s'eward for Gordou Castle, and 

 it might be desirable to learn the result of his experiments 

 with them. The M hoar-frost" appearance mentioned by 

 the Roxburgh Farmer is no criterion of boiled or unboiled 

 ■bones. Any one using bones is aware that they are ma- 

 terially affected by the nature of the soil they are used in, 

 and the state of the weather. Here, however, the boiled 

 bones have again the advantage, for they are not to be 

 found entire when the ground is ploughed after Turnip in 

 the ensuing spring, as the unboiled are, being much more 

 easily decomposed. To produce * hoar-frost" in the 

 drill rapidly, however, and at the same time to encourage 

 quick germination of the Turnip-seed, let a little water be 

 added to the bones about 24 hours previous to their being 

 put in the ground, so as to induce a heat, which will ma- 

 terially assist their decomposition, and consequently rapid 

 incorporation with the soil. I ought to mention that these 

 boiled bones were about 12 lbs. per bushel heavier than 

 the unboiled, and, on being heated, gave out a very 

 strong ammoniacal odour.— ^. //., Aberdeenshire. 



Bones.— In your Gazette of the 13th inst, Mr. Patrick 

 Clay, Berwick, states that for the last three or four years 

 he has sold large quantities of bones in the counties of 

 Roxburgh and Berwick, and that consequently I have 

 been misinformed as to their going out of use. This I 

 do not altogether admit: it is quite possible that Mr. Clay 

 may have sold large quantities of bones in the two coun- 

 ties ; it is also equally possible that in some districts they 

 may be in less repute; my informant merely spoke of 

 his neighbourhood, which is Kelso. My object in 

 making the communication to the Gazette of the 13th 

 ult., was to elicit information as to the respective merits 

 of boiled and unboiled bones, and not to bring them into 

 disrepute. If Mr. Clay can give any information on the 

 subject, I have no doubt it will be acceptable to 

 many.— E. R., Halifax. 



Gorse.— Under the word Gorse in" Withering'* Botany/* 

 it is mentioned, on the authority of Dr. Evans's tour in 

 Males, that my father, Mr. Davies, of Llechdwnny, fed a 

 large team of horses on the young shoots of that plant. 

 The fact is, that my father planted 10 acres of very steep 

 land with Gorse seed, and it was cut down and ground in 

 a mill erected for the purpose, the horses invariably pre- 

 ferring it to the best Hay. Dr. Evans was in Carmar- 

 thenshire, I believe, in 1802, and it had been the custom 

 then to use the Gorse from time immemorial One cir- 

 cumstance I must mention :-and Messrs. Rowland and 

 Son ought to know it :— immediately after its use the 

 horses beards and moustaches grew to an enormous size. 

 —F. Davies. 



Lime and Salt.— I tried this mixture on two acres of 

 old Grass land, having mixed them in the proportions 

 recommended by Mr. Cuthbert Johnson. A heap was 

 made, and the lime and salt were laid in alternate beds, 

 then mixed up together, and well covered over with soil 

 and sods. After three months this was applied to the 

 meadow in question; it was in a state resembling mortar, 

 and was with difficulty spread ; after it became dry, it was 

 beat to pieces, and spread and bush-harrowed. In many 

 parts of the field the Grass appeared as if it was scorched. 

 Jt did not grow luxuriantly, and the crop was the worst I 

 «ver had—in some parts not worth cutting.— Xorthumbri- 

 tnsts. [Possibly too much was applied/1 



Analysis of Soils. — The following "is a method of 

 analysing soils for ordinary Agricultural purposes:— 



g lV 0ntenieDt quantity of the earth to be analysed, 



say 1000 grains dried in the open air; drv the same 



oerore a nre on paper, so as not to scorch the paper; 



re-we.gh, and the difference will be the moUture. Roast 



the residue; re-weigh, and the difference v, ill be the 



organic matter. Pour a convenient quantity of muriatic 



acid on the remainder ; when stirred and settled pour it 



off, and add oxalate of ammonia : the precipitate will be 



the lime. Mix remainder with water, and stir it well- 



when a little settled, pour off the turbid mixture, and the 



suspended contents are argillaceous, and the deposit 



siliceous. — Ah Old Subscriber. 





the Belly-ruffian, and to distort the beautiful Italian 

 Livorno (for they no doubt have first done it) into Leg- 

 horn ; but surely it cannot be necessary that the enlight- 

 ened Agriculturists of the present day should frame the 

 word Mangel into Man and gold before adopting it. The 

 original and proper German name Mangel Wurzel literally 

 mean3 Want (or Scarcity) root, from its having been 

 found so valuable when thtre was a deficiency of o'her 

 food for cattle. And why should we not keep to tl is cor- 

 rect name, which is intelligible to nearly all the rest of 

 Europe, instead of corrupting it into another which must 

 puzzle them, and is in itself absurd ?— S. [If our corre- 

 spondent will examine a German dictionary, he will find 

 that the words •• Beetroot" are translated there " Man- 

 gold IVurtzel." It is possible that " Mangold " has had 

 its origin in Germany by some such distortion of " Man- 

 gel" as those quoted above; if so, the distortion is not 

 chargeable on us. In importing an article from another 

 country, we must just give it the name which it bears 

 there, however ridiculous its origin may have been. The 

 adoption of the word Mangel involves, we think, a very 

 questionable theory.] 



On the Preservation of Guano— Guano has been found 

 to exercise wonderful powers in exciting the growth of 

 vegetable life, on nearly, every kind of soil, but it is ex- 

 pensive in the first outlay, and to a certain extent it loses 

 its properties by exposure to air and moisture. A few 

 words, therefore, on the means of better preserving it 

 will be useful to such of your renders as use it, and also 

 to those parties who have to keep a la-.-ge stock on hand 

 for sale. It is well known that this article comes from a 

 climste where it is nearly always dry ; it is also known 

 that a great portion of it is soluble in water — a portion 

 cont lining some of its most fertilising ingredients ; hence 

 it must be evident that the exposure to contiuued moisture, 

 which it receives in England, must wash out the greater 

 part, if not the whole of the soluble matter contained in 

 it, and render it comparatively worthless. It is probibly 

 on this account that some parties who have used this 

 manure have found very little benefit from it, and have 

 exclaimed against the new-fangled manures as useless, 

 whereas it has not been the fault of the manure itself, but 

 of the way in which it has been kept— not preserved. In 

 order to keep guano fit for use, it must be preserved in a 

 perfectly dry place, otherwise much useful matter will 

 be washed out. Besides its soluble ingredients, there exbts 

 in guano a volatile compound of ammonia, to which it 

 owes its peculiar pungent odour when in a fresh state. 

 Old guano does not possess this pungency in an equal 

 degree, and when very old not at all. The carbonate of 

 ammonia, or common smelling salts of the shops, is the 

 state in which the volatile part of the ammonia exists in 

 this manure. By exposure to the air, even when dry, 

 this compound escapes in the state of vapour, and when 

 wet, is washed out ; so that in course of time it is com- 

 pletely lost in either way. Now, as it is well known from 

 the recent researches of Liebig, that ammonia has a 

 wonderful fertilising power, every care ought to be taken 

 to preserve the whole of this compound for the use of the 

 plant, and this can only be accomplished by converting it 

 into a fixed ammoniacal compound, which can be readily 

 and cheaply done by the addition of about 30 lbs. of sul- 

 phuric acid (oil of vitriol), mixed with about twice its 

 weight of water, to one ton of guano. A small excess of 

 the acid will not be injurious, as it renders the phos- 

 phates soluble, which are not so in simple water, thus 

 enabling them to enter by absorption into the rootlets of 

 any plants to which they might be applied. From the 

 remarks made, it appears that but two very simple condi- 

 tions are requisite for the preservation of guano, for any 

 length of time, in a state fit for use : the one condition 

 being absence of moisture ; the other, the addition of a 

 small quantity of sulphuric acid.— John Mitchell. 



Mangel }l urxel.— It is to be hoped the Agricultural 

 Gazette will not patronise the barbarous mode often 

 adopted of spelling this name «• Mangold Wurtzel." We 

 allow sailors to transmogrify foreign proper names into 

 words to which they can attach some meaning, and to call 

 the Ville de Milan the W heel- em -along , the Belle Aphon 



Sbocietfes. 



ROYALAGRICULTURALSOCIETYofENGLAND. 

 A Weekly Council was held at the Society's House 

 in Hanover-square, on Wednesday last, the 20th of 

 w» ; »> resent ' T ' ^ymond Baker, Esq., in the Chair ; 

 F R '_ Br ^ Esq.; F. Burke, E>q. ; F. C. Cherry 

 Esq.; E. D Davenport, Esq.; J. Dean, Esq.; C. G 

 Dupre. Esq , M.P. ; A. E. Fuller, Esq.. M.P. ; H. Gibbs, 

 Esq., B L Gwbbs^ Esq.; Rev. C. E. Keene ; W. Miles, 

 -bsq. M P.; H Price, Esq.; Prof. Sewell, and R. 

 Trench, Esq The following gentlemen were elected 

 Members of the Society :— 

 Pearse Henry, 9, Manchester Square, London. 

 Parke Charles jun.. Lower Hei.bury, Wimborne. Dorset 



S^wmu R ' C i ard ,' £ eCt ° r ° f North Ockendon, KomiSt*^ 

 Eve, William, North Ockendon. Romford, Essex. ' 



Coape. Wi ham, Duddington, Stamford, Line. 

 u e l S °S, , n Ian ' E ap t CB,tle » Cocfcermouth, Cumberland. 



P^^oS^To^ 



The names of 15 candidates for election at the next 

 Meeting were then read. 



Burnt Clay -His Grace the Duke of Richmond 

 having transmitted to the Council the results of Mr Pa^'s 

 experience in the application of burnt clay, the commSni- 



? J! J" W 8d ;°. the 5?**?* The report stated the 

 length of time during which the burnt clay had been used 

 on the farm, the mode in which it had been prepared the 

 quantity applied to the land the time of year and to what 

 crop, ; concluding with the following statement of it. 

 erTects:--I have known/ says Mr. Page's servant, 

 that in a wet cold season it beats all other manure for 

 Turnips : of course, it keeps our stiff lands from congeal- 

 ing together, giving the >eed more power to veeetate 

 stronger. I never earthed any without seeing an improve- 



[Mab. 23, 



ment made. All I can say abouTitTs,That ir ^ 



answers on wet cold lands : it will increase M. "S'^ 

 crop 2 coombs per acre. I do not think it Barle J 



well for Wheat as for Barley. It has been n. T^ » 

 farm for 20 years upon a small scale but fo t J*' 1 * 

 years very plentifully : last year, had the eW it* 1 * 

 me, I should have burned GOO loads." alIowe <* 



Model Experiments — Mr. Miles MP ; t 

 the Council, that Mr. Pusey. in his capacity of S° mti 

 of the Journal Committee, being desirous'th t ^T? 

 practical matter as possible should be commute ted? 

 the Society, and under such a uniform statemen nf 1°' 

 plan adopted, as would lead to direct inferenw. 8 

 comparison of the results obtained, had suggested toll,! 

 Journal Committee that a prize should be ehe J lhe 

 mote that object, a proposition that had been unanimnnT 

 adopted by the Committee, and of which the de 8 2 { 

 in a short time be laid before the Council and L U 

 ditions of the prize made public. Mr. Mile, was »J°*' 

 to see the model experiment on the growth of t ' • 

 which on a former occasion had been recommended byTe 

 Council to those members of the Society who lad th 

 means and opportunity for engaging i n such inquiries 

 repeated on an extended scale, embracing in its »L Z> 

 only a trial of the different manures on a%oot crop S u ch 

 as that of Turnips, but also on a grain crop, as, for instance 

 that of Barley, made on not less than an acre of ground' 

 and weighing the produce of not less than half an acre' 

 the trial being tested not only by the resulting weight of 

 Turnips, but also by that of the Barley. He thoaeht that 

 such an experiment would be important and interesting in 

 many points of view ; and as it would be desirable that in 

 this, as in the former model experiment, the seed should 

 be obtained from a given and genuine source. He then 

 gave notice that the attention of the Council havin* been 

 called to the circumstance of there being at present no 

 duly appointed seedsmen to the Society, he should move 

 at the next Monthly Council, that Messrs. Thomas Gibbs 

 and Co., of Halfmoon-street, Piccadilly, the parties who 

 had always been engaged by the Society to furnish seed 

 for the model experiment, and to test by cultivation the 

 various samples of seeds and plants from time to time 

 referred to them by the Council, should be officially an- 

 pointed the seedsmen to the Society. The Council then 

 adjourned to Wednesday next, the 27th inst. 



Southampton Meeting.— A Meeting of the General 

 Southampton Committee was held on Thursday last, 

 Colonel Challoner, Vice-Chairman, in the Chair; at 

 which the recommendations of the Committee respecting 

 the plans for the Pavilion and Show-yards at the ensuing 

 country Meeting in July, were finally determined upon, 

 and ordered to be reported for confirmation to the 

 Monthly Meeting of the Council on the 3rd of April next. 



ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY. 

 At the last meeting of the Society, H. Kemmis, V.P., 

 in the chair, it was reported from the Agricultural Com- 

 mittee, that Professor Dick, of Edinburgh, has kindly 

 undertaken to come to Dublin in April, to deliver lectures 

 on the diseases of cattle, at the approaching Show. It is 

 also hoped that Professor Kane will deliver, on one of the 

 days of the Cattle Show, a lecture on the relations of 

 science to agriculture, and the practical benefits de- 

 rivable from its application. 



HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



At the late monthly meeting of this Society, the first 

 paper read was a Report of Experiments with Manures 

 by Mr. Finnieof Swanston, near Edinburgh, at an eleva- 

 tion of 600 feet above the level of the sea. Oats, Barley, 

 Tares, Grass, and Turnips were tried with about a dozen 

 manures. The cost of all the fertilisers, with the excep- 

 tion of common salt and ammoniacal liquor, was 24s. per 

 acre each, as that sum was considered a sufficiently large 

 expenditure for any farmer to incur for such purposes. 

 The amount of produce ob f ained from the ordinary state 

 of the land was made the standard of comparison with 

 that obtained from the use of the fertilisers. The results 

 obtained were the following per imperial acre :— 



Oats. 



Gain 



^0 7 3 



12 10 



l 6 to 



1 15 4 



3 19 8 

 3 3 8 



4 24 



8 6 



Ground Rape cake . . 

 Ammoniacal salts .... 

 Common salt .... 



Nitrate of soda and sulphate of scda 

 Nitrate of soda .... 



Foreign guano .... 

 Artificial guano .... 



Bones dfesol red in sulphuric acid 

 Ammoniacal liquid 



Barley. 



Saltpetre 



Nitrate of soda and common sa't 



■Common salt 



Foreign guano .... 

 Artificial guano .... 



Bones dissolved in sulphuric acid 



Humus 



Ammoniacal salts .... 

 Nitrate of soda .... 

 Ground Rape cake .... 



Tares. 



Gypsum 



Foreign guano 



Artificial guano ..... 



Nitrate of soda 



Humus 



Nitrate of so.Ia and sulphate of soda .010 

 Sulphate of soda 



Bones dissolved in sulphuric acid 



Ammoniacal sal's . . . . o 1 *i 



Ground Rape cake . 



The fertilisers 



Loss 

 £0 5 Hi 



8 M 



15 5 



6 9i 



1 91 



19 6 i 



1 3i 



. 1 1 



. I 7 4$ 



. 1 8 44 



. 6 II* 



1 1 3i 



13 6 ) 



5 fi 



8 2J 



15 I* 



1 I <* 



12 7* 



• • • • • - 



applied to the Turnip-crop cost 1/. *-* 

 per imperial acre, in addition to 12 tons of we ":!?* 

 form-yard manure, the land which received no fert,ll4 ^ e 

 being manured with 16" tons ; so that the value of "» 



