THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



sS5»"»i. ° f .*f-f! 



50,000 1" • »' »— ve much free humic acid with 

 •"Wrf Beech ashes, and found-as it could uot be ex- 

 1400 ^wwife-that alter the lapse of one, two, and 

 P tc ,ed otherw chemic al tests in the same way 



.t,ree years, a «■"> t _ : .i...._j:„„ i. nrnHiiced verv 



thre * ,e ^!lv • but as, notwithstanding, it produced wry 

 " P'^'T rio'ver, and Potatoes, there is good reason to 

 *"' 0a "; at the ashes nourished the plants, wh.eh .. the 

 •» ume Tii. as we always find them as a component 



"TJTcrop which have been grown after ashes have 

 part of crops not tbe salt8 of 



b r 'Z'ch tpro'e and nourish plants, why should 

 isbe9 , hP all enually beneficial J We always see that 

 T y ° ,hes manure best which are rich in gypsum, 

 T S ' hafe of Hme, common salt, and sulphate of pot- 

 P f and as these salts do not act on the humus of the 

 "V it is evident that they directly nourish the plants. 

 £ ' ■'•« alumina and the oxides of iron and manga- 

 **' " ' fained Tashes, must not be considered useless ; 

 JfjShto soil contains a sufficient quantity of 

 b f . Iibstances, they are not contained in it in such 

 « Lrt es as n ashes. Silica, especially, may serve 

 £ P p ant as o„d, the more so, as it is at times com- 

 Mneu with potash in such a proportion as to become 

 Sle in water, which also may be the reason why 

 Oat! i, which are most rich in silica, succeed mostly after 



ashes. 



if 8 '.«h M are used to the amount of 500 or 600 lbs. 

 pe M agd bur e g Tre, this palpable effect will last only 

 two or fhree years ; as the easily soluble salts are not so 

 much bsorbed by the plants as they are extracted by 

 rain The substances which are hardly soluble in water, 

 like'pnosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, &c. remain 

 Ion Jr in the soil ; but this quantity is too small for them 

 to assist vegetation to any great extent. The quantity 

 of ashes used at one time ought not,, however, to be too 

 great, else the plants, instead of being improved by the 

 easily soluble salts, will be injured, and a great waste of 

 the salts will take place by rain-water. It is, therefore, 

 always better to use repeated manunngs with ashes in 

 jmall quantifies, and this ought to be the general rule 

 with ail manures containing many substances easily 

 soluble in water. Clayey soils, however, require always 

 a greater quantity of ashes than sandy soils, and it will 

 not be too much to use 1000 lbs. to 1200 lbs. on one 

 acre of the former, the greater or lesser amount being 

 determined by the proportion of potash tbey contain. 

 Soils very rich in humus require also much ashes, as in 

 this case a part of the superabundant humic acid is to be 

 neutralised. Fresh ashes will avail such soils chiefly by 

 supplying them with the deficient potash, and it is 

 obvious that those ashes will be preferable which con- 

 tain most of this alkali. In order to spread ashes well 

 they should be somewhat wetted, and either strewed on 



the surface, ia calm-Hifiathe.r, nt harrowed in with the 



to being used with burnt lime, which will increase 

 their manuring properties. Clayey soils, if manured 

 with a considerable quantity of such ashes, will be much 

 loosened, and be more benefited, generally speaking, than 

 light ones. Fields, which even after a manure of gyp- 

 sum, did not bear Clover, will produce it most luxu- 

 riantly, after a manure of these ashes ; and as Peas, 

 Vetches, and Beans, will also prosper, this can be taken 

 as a proof that they act chiefly by the phosphate of 

 lime they contain. Amongst the crops growing best 

 after a manuring of extracted ashes, are Oats, most pro- 

 bably because these ashes always contain still some potash, 

 and much of a silica, which will dissolve easier in water 

 than that of the soil. Rape, Potatoes, Barley, and Flax, 

 will succeed equally well, but ashes will act most strik- 

 ingly, only if the soil contains plenty of humus, as the 

 humic acid thence arising has to dissolve the phosphates 

 of lime, magnesia, &c, and to convey them to the plants. 

 Their effects are altogether similar to those of marl, 

 which is caused by both being very similar in their 

 chemical composition. It is at times said, that ex- 

 tracted ashes will act equally powerfully with fresh ones, 

 but this (provided equal quantities be taken of either), 

 is only the case when the soil is not naturally deficient 

 in those substances, which the ashes have lost by ex- 

 traction. 



Generally the ashes are harrowed in with the seed, or 

 ploughed in very shallow; they must, however, be 

 always well spread, because if they lie too thick on any 

 spot, nothing at all will grow there. 



seed. Generally speaking, in order that the carbonate of 

 potash may not be hurtful to plants, it must be first 

 changed into humate of potash. If, therefore, a soil 

 contains little humic acid, the quantity of ashes used 

 must be very small, and whoever takes no care of this 

 will injure his fields by ashes, rather than improve them. 

 The manuring with fresh ashes in the neighbourhood 

 of large towns is, comparatively speaking, not very ex- 

 pensive, as we can buy the ashes here at the rate of two- 

 thirds of a dollar per 100 lbs. ; if, therefore, even 

 1000 lbs. should be used per acre, it would only amount 

 to six and two-thirds dollars per acre. We have also 

 constantly to bear in mind, that the constituent parts of 

 the ashes which are absorbed by the plants are soon 

 again returned to the" soil in the shape of dung, as only 

 a small portion thereof is retained in the bodies of the 

 cattle. By manuring with ashes the soil is therefore 

 improved for many years to come. It is to be understood 

 that ashes must be kept in a place well protected from 

 rain, else they would soon lose their powerful ingredients. 

 Experience has shown that vegetable ashes will chiefly 

 improve the growth of leguminous plants, as Lucerne, 

 Clover, Peas, Vetches, &c, which is easily explained by 

 all plants belonging to that family requiring much soda, 

 Potash, sulphuric and phosphoric acids, lime and mag- 

 nesia, and chlorine, for their nourishment, large quan- 

 tities of these substances being found in their ashes. It 

 wood-ashes are strewed over meadows which produce 

 oad Grasses and Moss, the effect is the appearance, as it 

 oy enchantment, of a variety of Vetches and Clovers 

 •pringing up. On meadows exposed to inundation, ashes 

 cannot be used, any more than upon very wet fields. Ail 

 plants grown after manuring with wood-ashes are not 

 only much relished by cattle, but are also very nutritious, 

 because they then contain also those mineral substances 

 ^ great quantity, which are required for the chemical 

 constitution of auimal bodies ; potash, hme, soda, ana 

 magnesia, will also saturate the vegetable acids, and con- 

 tribute (as has been shown under the head ot Marlj 

 towards the forming of much albumen, sugar, and other 

 nutritious substances. Ashes from potash-boilers, bleach- 

 es, and soap-boilers, are used even more than lresn 

 ashes, being much cheaper. f 



-As these extracted ashes will contain but traces or 

 Potash, common salt, and other saline matters, easily 

 "oluble in water, and will also have lost much ot the 

 Sypsum they formerly contained ; they will never act so 

 powerfully as fresh wood ashes, on which account large 

 quantities are always to be used— nay, two or three tons 

 will not be too much per acre. In this case their effect will 

 last many years, which might naturally be expected, as in 

 4000lbs. of ashes, at times 4801bs. of phosphate ot 

 lime, and more than 20001bs. carbonate of lime will De 

 toet wir.lv a, t i mao ntrantpA ashes are mixed previous 



Home Correspondence. 



Liquid Manure.— Permit me to call the attention of 

 your readers to a cheap and efficacious manure, now to 

 be obtained in most of our towns, and at the same time 

 to suggest a mode of rendering it more extensively avail- 

 able— I mean the ammoniacal refuse liquor from gas 

 works. This is not unfrequently considered almost a 

 nuisance, and I have known it a practice at some works 

 to burn weekly the contents of the vessels in which it is 

 received; while at a trifling expense the gas company 

 might convert it into a valuable chemical manure, and it 

 would thus become in their hands an article of profit. 

 Mv own experience enables me to testify to its value in 

 what I may call its unmanufactured state— namely, the 

 liquor as received from the works. I have found it to 

 contain, when freshly drawn, 75 percent, of pure am- 

 monia (!) and, applied undiluted, it has immediately de- 

 stroyed all herbage from a plot of sward chosen for the 

 experiment ; in various dilutions it has injured or im- 

 proved : but I consider a dilution with six times its own 

 weight of water gives it practically a sufficient frengih. 

 Having received the fresh liquor in casks, and allowed 

 24 hours for the tar to sink, I then by a syphon draw 

 off the fluid, one portion going, after dilution, at once to 



-the fields, and anoihcr beiog tl.ko^r. iats U« -ssg-j-^ 



had them copiously bled, and drenched with three 

 quarters of a pound of common salt each, in two qu^ts 

 f water, and in the course of a few hours the swelling 

 had entirely subsided. When cattle are hoven I much 

 approve of bleeding, because, even when the probang has 

 been effectually used, the loss of some blood is advisable, 

 in order to check any inflammation caused by excessive 

 distention of the stomach.— Arthur Hall. 



Analysis of Guano.— The present Number of the 

 Journal of the Agricultural Society of England contains 

 an elaborate analysis of guano, by Dr. Ure, such as no 

 ordinary chemist in a country town could be expected to 

 execute. The African and Peruvian guanos are shown 

 to be entirely distinct (agriculturally speaking), and no- 

 farmer ought to order guano without specifying which 

 kind he means to purchase-the qualities of the latter 

 being greatly superior to those of the former, as Dr. Ure 

 (page 302-3), expressly states :-" Among ; the many 

 samples of African guano, I have analysed for the im- 

 porter, none has contained any appreciable quantity ot 

 uric acid, or of consequence potential ammonia. In 

 page 303 he proceeds to the Peruvian and Bolivian 

 guanos, and explains what he means by P° te » tl »l am- 

 monia. - My attention has been directed not only to 

 the constituents of guano, which act as | mmed ^ 

 manure, but to those which are admitted to impart 

 durable fertility to the ground." Ammonia is the chief 

 thing ; « vet not altogether in the pure or saline form, 

 for it is too readily evaporated and washed away, but in 

 the dormant, or, as one may say, the potential condition. 

 Genuine Peruvian and Bolivian guano surpass very tar 

 all other species of manure in the quantity of r° tent,a * 

 ammonia, and therefore in the permanency of their 

 action on the roots of plants ; while in consequence of 

 the ample store of actual ammonia they contain, tney 

 are qualified to give immediate vigour to vegetation. 

 Urate of ammonia constitutes a considerab e portion ot 

 the azotised organic matter in well preserved guano, Che 

 speaking of Bolivian and Peruvian). It is nearly in- 

 soluble in water, not at all volatile, and is capab e of 



and tank. The price charged me by the Aylesbury Gas 

 Company is three farthings per gallon, and the tar may 

 be worth one-fifth of that sum. The next point is the 

 conversion of this ammoniacal liquor into a fixed salt. 

 This I have effected with gypsum and various sulphates 

 and with common salt (muriate of soda) ; also with sul- 

 phuric and muriatic acids; on the ground however of 

 superior efficacy and cheapness, the whole becoming by 

 the combination a useful product, as well as on account 

 of the greater certainty in its use, sulphuric acid is to be 

 preferred. In this lies what I before indicated- a re- 



source for gas companies. With their furnaces in action 

 ft is manifest that a very small expenditure of sulphuric 

 acid would enable them to convert the refuse they now 

 hardly know how to get rid of into a cheap efficacious 

 manure-sulphate of ammonia. And until this is done 

 on a large scale, the liquor offers to the agriculturist a 



reference to the subject as worthy attent.on.-5. /-., 

 Highbury Grange. [Unquestionably this liquor con- 

 tains much ammonia capable of being put to important 

 agricultural uses ; but our correspondent is surely in 

 error in saying that he met with a sample containing 75 



***£&? M M Dairy Co*..- Observing in an 

 article on this subject, by Mr. Steele, of Epsom, that 

 Potatoes are recommended, I think some of your readers 

 may be benefited by the knowledge of my experience 

 with them as food for cattle. I have given them in the 

 winter with hay to cows, and straw to young cattle, witn 

 the greatest success; the latter, when fed with them, 

 always being in good condition, and the former thriving 

 well and giving a fair quantity of very swet milk, pro- 

 ducing butter of good flavour. Thus far I merely •cor- 

 roborate the statement of Mr. Steele ; but the fact to 

 which I wish to draw the attention of your readers^ is, 

 that when Potatoes are given to cattle late in the spring, 

 with green food, the, are liable to become .hover or 

 blown? Two years ago, having a quantity of the* roo * 

 when they were at a very low price ,n this notour 

 hood, I began to give them to my ^ "^Xblo.n 

 at Grass, and the consequence was they "^Potatoes 

 to an alarming extent. I have always used ■&*££ 

 raw, but most probably had they been steame tta en 

 in this case would have been avoided ; still 1 do not ap 



to an alarming extent, i na.c ^-.j- --- 



raw, but most probably had they bee n steamed the 



in this case would have been ^ A f ^^o as 



prove of steaming roots generally fo ■tame 



'far as I have had the opportnn. t, -of ^aining^the 



do better on them ^raw In t his case ^ ^ 



o. my cows, but had I not taken ? I 



yielding to .he soil, by its gradual decomposition, nearly 

 one-third of it. weight of ammonia/' We may observe, 

 that though there ma, or may not be as large a propor- 

 tion of free ammonia, upon which the first ye-rs crop 

 chiefly depends, in the African, as in he Bolivian and 

 Peru/ian guano, yet that the two latter exclusive y 

 possess th.t combination of uric acid and ammonia 

 which gives the invaluable power of producing enduring 

 fertility in subsequent years The ™ m *^*fil 

 of the excellence of guano is the quantity of -ncwulit 

 contains, by means of which it retains, and gradually 

 gives out, I continued stream, as it were, of >»»»»■ 

 The specific gravity of a decoction of guano will not in- 

 dicate' its value, because thi, most important ingredient 

 is nearly insoluble. To obtain detailed analysis in the 

 connVis ouite impossible, or if possible, unnecessary ; 

 because it is sufficient for us as buyers to know the ex- 

 istence and perhaps proximate quantity ot o» ™Sr*££ 

 namely, uric acid, which does not exist at all in the in- 

 Xr guanos. The test of this ingredient, to be practi- 

 cally and generally useful, should be contained ... httte 

 bottle in the pocket, be easily applied and the effect 

 de idedly and immediately obvious to a farmer . sen e . 

 It need not indicate the proportion accuratel , but rt 

 should proximately. The Royal British *»£»££ 

 could not do better than offer a premium, or set their 

 onsulting chemist. Dr. Lyon Playfa.r, o Manches te , 

 to work. But great bodies move slowly ; and cons der- 

 ngTow iuflae'ntial position, I think a «b™!'«£* 

 under your auspices, would soon raise a sufficient sum 

 for the purpose.- John GuanopM. 



Camlrulae Red Wheat.— I inclose an ear of W neat 



fo/yo" tfpection, - a sample-one fairly selected from 



the nroduce of an acre, which was dibbled late in the 



spring by hand, in rows of 1 foot and 9 inches between 



f 1JL™ The acre took but one peck and a pint 



to do so. One fact I had nearly g produced, 



A»Ln( the same variety sown more thickly ? That 

 ^Vltvrion of great value We have not yet 

 threshed out our Wheat, and therefore cannot yet say 

 IhTch distance has proved most productive in our case , 

 but we should be glad to announce the experience of our 

 correspondent, as well as that of others, on this im- 

 portant subject, along with our own.] 



Southampton Register of Implements. —I quite agree 

 with your correspondent, " A Subscriber, ' (page 5Wj, 

 respecting Mr. Johnson's Register. I was i ^dis- 

 appointed in it, and at the number of artic lee om« tted 

 .amongst other things, the American plough , as 

 id that Daniel Webster, on his return i from Englsn, 



said that Uaniel weoster, on u» - ;*" E Iand * rthy 

 stated that he had not seen any m ^ « ^ tfaere 



of comparison with those °' Am *" lrt ' 8 th an eight 

 is not one churn given, there being one 



shown ; and also si, ^^Pe^puMc paper, it is 

 given in the Register ^nd^th^P^ ^ / Qventors 



t_ i i t „ rt * taken prompt measures wi given iu tuc i« 6 — ■ - , t trie lD \eiuuio 



