

THE AGRICULTURAL GA ETTK 



4f>7 



^*am 



AUTION 



** 



IL'tB ■*• 



V1AN guano. 



O AGRICULTURISTS. 



• that exieon*e adulterations of 



■i 



tbU 



%ilU carried oo. 



aVrON'T OIBH- **D SONS. A- TUB 



1TUPORTBM OF PERL' VIA! GUAKO, 

 Ittob* their dutj to the Peruvian -overoment und 



■Jfruotic strata to recommend Farmeri and all other* who 



^K.e«refallf on their jraard. 

 fJEaracter oi the parti s from whom they purchase will 



^^C the beit security, and in addition to particular 

 £th*t point, aHTONT GIBBS ahd SONS think it 



«*» Mtniod buyer* that — 



VI hwest wholesale price at which sou?id Peruvian 

 has been sold by them during the last two years 



of the seeds of grain, &c^ was all that wai required 



to produce the heaviest crops. 



There never was much discordance in the effects 



15. 5/. per ton, less 2 ± per cent. 



ZZ. resale* made bv dealers at a lower prlca must therefore 

 **?t;!,, m |o«- to them. orthear«icl<» most he ad ultera ted 



^g^LONDON MANURE COMPANY beg to 



i rfef •* under, CORN MANURE, most valuable for 



^■J Sidmr— Coocentrated Urate, Superphosphate of Lime, 



!ZLe/ Soda, Sulphate of Ammonia, Fishery and Asricul- 



'"salts Ovpium, Fossil Bones, Sulphuric Acid, and every 



Artificial Manure ; alto a consent supply of English 



'Foreign Linseei-cake. Peruvian Guano, guaranteed the 



La importation of Messrs. A. Gibbs and Sons, 91. 10#. per 



aril 5i . in quantities of 5 tons and upwards. 



m Edward Pease*, Secretary. 



#A Bridfe-icreet, Blackfriar*. London. 



M"~ ANURK.^ —The following Manures are manu- 

 factured at Mr. Lawes's Factory, Ueptford Creek : 

 CIov> Manure, per ton ... ... ... ... £11 



Ton M inure, do. 7 



Soper phosphate of Lime 7 



Salphuric Acid and Coprolites 5 



Office, 69, King William-street, City, London. 

 5.B. Veruvian Guano, guaranteed to contain 16 per cent, of 

 Amsaonta, 91 10j. per ton ; and for 5 tons or more, H, 5#, per 

 Iqa lo dock. Sulphate of Ammonia, <fcc. 



HOSE FOR LIQUID MANURE, Fire-engines 

 and agricultural purposes, made of canvass, lined and 

 Stated with tu'.ta percha ; it is about one-third the price of 

 ather or india-rubber, will convey liquids of all kinds under 

 a heavy pressure ; it is extensively used at the Government 

 public works, also by the navy, and amongst agriculturists, 

 giving universal satisfaction. Testimonials and prices may be 

 obtained of Messrs. Burgess and Key, 103, Newgate-street, sole 

 maoufactur. r$.— London Agents : Messrs. Dearie, Dray, and 

 Desne, Ssrao-Iane ; Messrs. Tilley, Biackfriara-road. — Country 

 Agents : Messrs. Ransome and Parsons, Ipswich ; Messrs. J. 

 and S. Johnson, Liverpool; Messrs. Dickson, Hull; Mr. 8. 

 Wilson, Ajjeut for Scotland. . 



ANTHONY'S PATENT AMERICAN CHURN 

 has obtained a Prize at every Agricultural meeting at 

 which it has been exhibited ; and the Proprietors have sold 

 inwards of 2000 in one year, and received from all parts of 

 England the highest testimonials in its favour, both as to the 

 short time required, the quantity and quality of the Butter 

 Bsade, a copy of which testimonials, with prices, will be for. 



warded on application to Boxqebs and Kit, 103, Newgate, 

 street, Sole Agents to the Proprietor. 



OSE! HOSE!! HOSE!!! Improved Canvas 



Hose, Lined and Coated with Outta Percha for Liquid 

 Manure, Fire Engines, Garden and Farm purposes. — This 

 Hose is greatly Improved. The rigidity of seam avoided, the 

 iieiibility increased, the waterproof qualities extended, the> 

 price more reasonable. Much research and trial by the Manu- 

 facturers, has enabled them to arrive at what they consider a 

 perfect Hose. Improved Qutta Percha Union Joints of all sizes, 

 Outta Percha in all its branches. — Apply to Messrs. Mitchell 

 and Co., 98, Hi*h Hoi bom. London ; International Depot for 

 Patented and other Inventions. 



rpHE METALLICTPAINT, produced by the Patent 



-*» Alkali Company, has ,been extensively used for several 

 years on farm-buildings, iron bridges, roofs and railings, 

 •hipping, Ac., and it is admitted that it covers a greater sur- 

 face and stands far better than any other pigment on wood, 

 iron, Abethaw Lime, and Roman Cement Fine Black, 252. 

 per ton, and Rich Purple-brown, 201. per ton.— Offices of the 

 Company, 1, Se^ Broad-st.. London. — Johw A. West, Secretary. 



ORKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.— 



The Fourteenth Annual Meeting will b* held at Bur- 

 Hngton, on the 6th of Acgc*t next. The ENTRY CLOSES 

 on the 23d of July. Free transit of Stock, both ways, and 

 half rates for Implements, are conceded by the Railways of 

 the district, Pbize Sheets, for Stock, Implements or Poultry, 

 with Forms of Certificate, may be had, free, by application to' 

 Sowerby, Tbirak. *M. M. Milbuew, Secretary. 



of specific manures on poor soil* ; the harmony of 

 principle was there seen in broad and consistent 



indications by the most cursory observer. We are 

 indebted to Mr. Lawks, of Kothamstead, for a series 

 of experiments, to endeavour to unravel the intrica- 

 cies in which many points affecting the principles of 

 manuring were wrapt. By making his experiments 

 on land quite exhausted by a succession of crops, 

 he was in a better position to find out the actual 

 elements which made up a rich soil, than by taking 

 a fertile one as the basis of his deductions, and sub- 



jecting it to the most rigid analysis ; and, by ob- 

 serving the special and relative effects of the various 

 substances which he applied to the crops on this 

 exhausted land, the practical truths and lesson- 

 which the results were fitted to teach were more 

 easily apprehended. Some of these experiments 

 were most satisfactory, so far as they went ; and in 

 their arrangement and execution a v;ist amount of 

 labour and care have been expended. Every student 

 in this field will find ample materials for informa- 

 tion in Mr, Lawes' papers on agricultural chemistry, 

 in the " Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society ;" 

 but they are especially useful in furnishing him with 

 suggestions which lead to more extended inquiries 

 into the contiguous branches of science which bear 

 upon the practice of agriculture, and which will be 

 taken Up and explored as our knowledge advances. 

 Throughout the whole of these intricate experiment- 

 we have evidence of carefully-recorded results, and 

 the chemical figures connected with them are pushed 

 totheir extreme limits in theextensive deductions that 

 have been drawn from them. In this latter charac- 

 teristic consists their weakness; what was local! 

 and only circumstantially correct was, without hesi- 

 tation or inquiry, deemed to be so absolutely. Thus, 

 while the experiments themselves are extremely 

 interesting, their interpretation affords a wide field 

 for disagreement ; for it is on this territory that the 

 chemistry and meteorology of agriculture meet, and, 

 we think, intersect each other. 



Mr. Lawes clearly demonstrated that the natural 

 produce of Wheat on his soil, at Rothamstead, could 

 not be raised beyond 17 bushels, by the application 

 of any kind of mineral matters, unless they were 

 applied in conjunction with nitrogenous manures. 

 Witness the results of the following applications : 



Bushels. 



Unmanured 16*3 Wheat per acre. 



700 lbs. superphosphate ... 16J 



Ash of 14 tons of farm-yard dung 16 



Sulphate of ammonia 65 



Ditto 80 ... 26* 



211 



97 



9J 

 99 



Che agricultural ©a>ette. 



SA TURD A Y, JULY 19, 1 85 1 . 



"" — ■ ' " " -■ " i ■ 



MEETINGS FOR THI ENSUING WEEK. 



WioniDii, Julr 33-A*TicaltumlSoci*-tTorEnelftnd. 

 Thu»sdai, — 24— Afriealtural Imp. Soc. of Ireland. 



Liebig's experimental researches, founded on cer- 

 tain views of vegetable nutrition, have put us in pos- 

 session of a valuable treasury of facts ; and, after 10 

 years of inquiry, we have done little more than con- 

 firmed the principles which he at first enunciated. 

 In their application to practical agriculture, however, 

 it was found necessary to modify them in many essen- 

 tial particulars. The condition and manner in which 

 plants absorb the nitrogen in their structures are 

 still involved in considerable doubt, and will form 

 the questio vexata for many years to come. The 

 fact that, on some soils, the same beneficial results 

 were often obtained from the application of very 

 different substances, tended to obscure their true 

 action. Thus it was impossible to trace and recog- 

 nise the fundamental principles upon which all were 

 agreed. This was more particularly the case on rich 

 soils, and the facts could be explained only on the 

 idea that the different kinds of application gave the 

 plants a vigorous and healthy start, which enabled 

 them to expand their roots, and appropriate the fer- 

 tilising substances which were thus more perfectly 

 placed within their reach. It was evidently, for 

 instance, a few isolated experiments on rich soils 

 that led to the supposition, that the mere steeping 



The same experiment has been repeated year after 

 year with similar results. From this it was quite 

 evident that the active principle in raising the pro- 

 duce of the Wheat was the nitrogen contained in 

 the two last manures. We must not be held to 

 maintain that nitrogen, in manures for Wheat, is 

 all that is practically necessary ; for some of us have 

 found out that the mineral elements, or perhaps the 

 mineral conditions of our fields, are & serious ob- 

 stacle in the way of the cultivation of Wheat on 

 many soils. But, to avoid immaterial points, we 

 assume that ammonia is the only manure that is 

 required by Wheat. 



From the slight data furnished by the above ex- 

 periments, Mr. Lawes launches out into the most 

 extensive series of generalisations, for the guidance 

 of the agriculturist. Had he gone no further than 

 the results warranted him in doing, he would have 

 done more eminent service to the cause which he 

 had so much at heart. But he weighed many of our 

 practices by a constant and particular standard, even 

 under circumstances which were totally different; 

 and he has, through his name, arrested inquiry in 

 many quarters which it was of much importance to 

 explore. As a specimen we take the following 

 passage : 



" The various contradictory results obtained by the 

 application of mineral manures to Wheat are completely 

 accounted for when it is known that they only increase 

 the produce in proportion to the available azotised 

 matter existing in the soil. Although I have confined 

 my remarks to the Wheat crop, they apply equally to 

 the whole class of plants belonging to the same 'natural 

 order.' Though they do not thrive equally well in the 

 same climate and soil, I consider them all to be plants 

 in which the nitrogen supplied in the manure is more 

 than what is obtained in the produce. They may for 

 our present purpose be called nitrogen-consuming plants, 

 in contra- distinction to those which are nitrogen-collect- 

 ing plants, and contain more of this substance than was 

 supplied to them in the manure. Common pasture 

 belongs to the same class of plants as our grain crops ; 

 hence we have an additional argument to the number 

 already advanced in favour of breaking it up in every 

 case where it is not required for ornamental purposes." 



We have already stated the probability that all 

 plants have the power of collecting nitrogen, either 



in rains <»r by direct al> | tion from the uttu 



in the san manner m carbonic acid is I and 



assimiL 4- if the pla 8 are placed in proper 

 states for doing so. Let us take for example the 



c union Rye Grass, which brars m strong analogy 



to some of our cereals. It is a useless \ tut on 



ordinarv soils in Franc where the heat and dry 

 atmosphere propel it to develop its seeds instead of 

 its leaves for f< je. In Kent, where we still have 

 continental characteristics in the summers, it is 

 looked upon by the farmers as a" weed" (Bravf.nm a) 

 It is no gr t favourite in the eastern counties of 

 England, as it M draws M the land, and it only £i in 



p lurage in the ulv spring, and in the n> isl of 

 Autumn. But in the cool northern counties of Scot- 

 land, and almo.- I hroughout Ireland, it is a valuable 

 p ture plant, and by its growth exhausted land very 

 soon enriches i* If. In short, it is the peculiar 

 glory of the British islands that they rapidly feed 

 their exhausted soils under pasturage ; for in con- 

 tinental countries the Grass grows fewer months, and 

 it- growth is entirely suspended during the heats of 

 summer. The comparative rapidity with which 

 land improves in pasturage over the British islands, 

 forms one of the turning points (as w< shall after- 

 wards see) in the systems of farming, wh I), strange 

 to say, has been veiy much overloo d in discussing 

 the peculiarities of its husbandry. 



Again, as connected with the same subject — the 

 absorption of nitrogen — we would ask, What i the 

 theory of irrigation 1 If Prof. Wav's intert-sting dis- 

 covery of the absorption of the ammonia \ Loama 

 containing clay be absolutely correct, the springs 

 which issue from this cl s of soils must have left 

 this valuable ingredient on the argillaceous filter; 

 and however rich they may be in all the inorganic 

 elements which can nourish the highest class of 

 vegetables, they will be useless as a means of 

 nourishing the Grasses, which we have been told 

 have not the power of collecting nitiogen from the 

 atmosphere ; or must we believe that by the process 

 of irrigation we have given the plants these conditions 

 in which they can take a considerable amount of 

 nitrogen from' the atmosphere, like the Oak, or an 



autumn-sown Turnip ? 



Much difference of opinion has always pre iled 

 in regard to the comparatively exhausting properties 

 of Wheat, Barley, and Oats. The recent advance of 

 science enables us to discuss this question, if it does 

 not yet admit of finally settling it. We now know 

 what are the principal elements that it is the object 

 of the agriculturist to supply to his reduced and 

 impoverished fields to repair their condition and 

 again fit them for bearing crops* Mr. Lawes has 

 adverted to this subject, and settled it in a very 

 summary manner, and Mr. HuxtablI has deemed 

 his reasons to be quite satisfactory. 



" I am inclined to think that for practical purposes 

 we may assume 5 lbs. of ammonia to be required for 

 the production of every bushel of Wheat beyond the 

 natural yield of the soil and season." 



Also, page 253 :- 



u We have no reason to suppose that one grain crop 

 possesses the power of exhausting the soil more than 

 another. The tenant farmer should therefore be per- 

 mitted to grow that crop which is most suited to his soil. 

 On the heavy soils alternate Wheat crops might be 

 grown." 



But why cannot alternate crops of Wheat be 

 grown on the light lands as well as on the heavy, it 

 it is a mere question of ammonia ? Mr. Lawes has 

 very clearly drawn the distinction between exhausting 

 crops and their converse, but he does not keep it 

 steadily in view. But it is only by this means we 

 are enabled to see the reasons upon which practical 

 fanners here build the opinions on w r hich they act. 

 Fanners naturally consider those crops to be most 

 exhausting which take the largest amount of manure 

 to raise them. But although one crop does take 

 more manure to raise it than another, it is not a 

 sound conclusion to draw that the one exhausts the 

 soil more than another. Wheat is considered to 

 be a much more exhausting crop in Scotland than 

 Oats or Barley, and there is a great deal to be disco- 

 vered by following up the arguments which are 

 adduced in confirmation of this current notion. 

 Every lease bears ample testimony to this idea ; and 

 on all secondary soils it has been deemed prudent 

 to restrict and limit its extent on the farm. It is 

 very evident to us, that this practice is founded 

 on the most absurd data imaginable. This opinion 

 is so firmly believed and persisted in, that it is now 

 found by practical men to be a thorough nuisance 

 in their covenants. As the errors involved actually 

 defeat the end which is intended to be gained, we 

 shall be at some trouble in endeavouring to lay bare 

 their sources, and in so doing, perhaps some will gain 

 a better acquaintance with the spirit of Scotch farm- 

 ing. For this end we must have a clear understand- 

 ing of the points at issue. Under certain circum- 

 stances, we believe that Wheat requires more manure 



than Oats or Barley, especially in Scotland and 



