810 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



such a mine of 



aae* vvludt we wiii m t speak of separately now), i that ' experience 5 is sadly in the rear. Why it does 

 happens to have a strorg affection for water, espe- 1 so at all, has but recently received explanation ; but 

 cially in its purest state ; so when the clouds turn j that explanation has opened up 

 to water and comedown, which they have a habit | enquiry and experiment in the laboratory of Mr. 

 of doin? under certain electrical conditions which ' Way ; and has lately been illustrated by facts so 

 we needn't trouble about at present, down conies the well attested and deeply interesting in the fields of 



ammonia with the rain, giving to it a most delicious 

 scent, especially if it has not rained for a long time 

 before, and the quantity of ammonia collected in the 



air is considerable. 



This same gas has or.e remarkatfle property, among 



others; it loves those, and falls on those, and blesses 

 those who prepare for it and receive it kindly. It 

 falls with the occasional shower, not to mention 

 the nightly dew, to an extent exceeding a hundred 

 and fift if pounds weight* annually on eveiy acre of 

 land, flat, like that dew, it hates a stale surface. 

 On a road, a neglected fallow, on any hard imper- 

 vious sun-baked surface, it absolutely refuses to 

 perch or settle: so if you wish to attract its sweet 

 and sovereign influences — stir the surface 



nay, 

 how 

 top, 

 in a 



August, 

 the 



of July and 



light 



Now of all 



spirit there 



keep it continually stirred ; and no matter 

 coarse the subsoil you have brought to the 

 the quantity of r.mmonia you may absorb 

 single summer is such that, you may laugh — or 

 mourn, as you please — at neighbor Drychaff's dung- 

 cart, that creakii g hearse that is carrying to the 

 field the dead lody whose departed spirit has 

 descended weeks and months ago upon your acres, 

 by the care you 1 ave taken to attract it. You may 

 1 call spirits fr< m the vasty deep' and from the 

 dryland, and fiom every dung-hill, or other mass 

 of decaying aniiral or vegetable matter for miles 

 around you; aid 'they will come when you do 

 call for them/ which is more to the purpose — 

 if only you will do one thing, — keep your soil 

 in the conditun to attract, receive, and retain 

 them. Observe these three words, for there are 

 some things that attract but do not retain, — rain- 

 water for instance, which as it falls attracts all the 

 ammonia of tie air but parts with it again to the 

 bare fallow it falls upon, which, again, receives but 

 does not retain it; for the hot sun 



as it glares on the unshaded field, draws 



spiiit up again; and if you will stoop 



down and loik along the ground on a bright hot 



day, you may sometimes even see it dancing and 



flickering to the eye, like a sort of bright tremulous 



sea of vapour. I do not tell you this is all 



ammonia; bit it is that condition of the air in 



contact with the ground, in which ammonia is most 



constantly ei caping, owing to its affinity for moisture, 



whether in the shape of vapour or rain. 



the attracted and retainers of ammonia, the most 



powerful ard staunch, as Professor Way will tell 



you, and slow you,— is fresh-broken loamy clay 



provided ciily that you keep it pulverised and 



surface-moved, presenting a fresh morning face 



from time to time, and a deep hearty free welcome 



into its ray bosom. Once get the 



and it will stop. 



But what to do for shade and shelter through the 

 not evaporating months of July and August ? 



A plan has been recently improved u Jon and per- 

 fected by which this desideratum is attained— by one 

 ot those 1 appy accidents which escort and cheer the 

 steps of true discoveiy-in the course of a system 

 ot VV he; ^growing on clay soils, by which the field 

 is secnned into strips of Wheat and fallow, 

 whereby the growing corn as it rises into stem 

 closes over the alternate beds of rich fresh undersoil 



JiX * T? d °T er the t0 P mould > «* P*e- 



wppoited on its soft feather-bed below, has been 



tne spring and early summer, continually 



es<enr» «f A a 1 ammonia — Nature's own quint- 

 the air »L dD . n 8heap-di8tilled in the alembic of 



by her ^ pre W ted a ?P on the *** thirsty beds 

 Dy ner own minutely dividing and eve- 1 - - ■ 



TS ha f d - Wtt ^ than anv dung-fork 

 lhat extra " 



* 2>r. Fowin Hl*blai>d Agricultural Journal. 



during 



manured with this ammonia 



evenly appor- 



Mr. Smith, that the very sneer may be welcomed 

 which provokes a more useful argument than its 

 own, on such a problem, at the present moment, as 

 the cultivation of clay soils. H. 



"Enclosed, I send you tl- lzT bur */* I 



I have made 



you forwarded to me. 



value can be determined. Tlio muL „jL ? lllch «■ 



to which you allude is merely the (tetenSSt;? C** 

 of the absence of adultenion £ ! Sl^ 



to the more complex manures 



nitrate of soda, or the like, a method totally 



ir\ flip mmv» onmnlnv »^,„ . •/ 



such 



HINTS TO PURCHASERS OF MANURES. 



There is certainly nothing in the cultivation of crops 

 that an agriculturist ought to be more particular in 

 ascertaining than the true composition and value of the 

 substances which he adds to his land, with the view of 

 obtaining a suitable augmentation of produce ; and yet 

 how few there are among the farming class who trouble 

 themselves about taking this precaution. 



I am induced to offer the present remarks in conse- 

 quence of the vast quantity of stuff that is sold m the 

 market as artificial manures, possessing but little 



m with high-sounding 



as 

 "Applicable 



manure seems to be made bv satnmVwirf S ' -^e 

 cows' urine, and I do not Z^T^&T^ ^ 

 high, certainly very f ar inferior t, ♦ *.* _'2 be Vei T 



very 

 Thomas Anderson.'* 



ior to that of 



guano. 



th 



e 



to a 



ques- 



corre- 



intrinsic efficacy ; some of 



names, and patented too, as if such distinctions can add 

 anything to the scale of their worth. Now, the fact is, 

 there exists in the preparation of many of these as 

 much humbug and rascality as we find practised in 

 matters of law. That there are some among them, 

 however, which form an exception, inasmuch as bene- 

 fiting by their application the crop raised, 

 certain extent, I will not deny ; but the 

 tioir is, how far does their money value 

 spond with the result eventually derived therefrom? 

 If the increase of crop, obtained yields no more 

 than will cover the cost of the application, it must, of 

 course, be considered a failure. I have, unfortunately, 

 myself been considerably duped, by placing too implicit 

 a reliance upon the infallibility of various of these 

 manures, as I was led to believe, by their vendors ; 

 whereas, in my practical trials, I could seldom discover 

 any advantage to arise from them at all, equal to the 

 expense incurred in their purchase. It may be said, 

 that in procuring the article from parties of known 

 respectability and integrity, these occurrences will be 

 guarded against. But such is not always the case. 

 Many of the manufacturers, although they may be very 

 upright men, with regard to character, are but little, if 

 at all, acquainted with the principles of chemical com- 

 binations, affinities, and changes. They fancy that by 

 mixing together certain proportions of this and that ele- 

 mentary substance, which they have learnt from books or 

 other theoretical sources, constitute apart of the foodand 

 construction of plants, their compound must prove to be 

 of first-rate excellence, without taking at all into consi- 

 deration how completely altered in their properties the 

 respective ingredients used may have become by their 

 action upon each other. Nor is it alone relative to the 

 more complicated compositions that this circumstance 

 will apply, for many of the more simple substances 

 also offered for sale in the manure market are impro- 

 perly prepared. I shall take, for instance, superphos- 

 phate of lime. Dr. Anderson, the talented and scientific 

 chemist of the Highland Agricultural Society of 

 Scotland has shown, as may be seen by a reference to 

 their published Transactions, vol. 5, that the commercial 

 superphosphate analysed by him, actually contained no 

 ^er-phcsphate at all, and that its money value was 

 1?. 5s. per ton less than the kind prepared as it ou^ht 

 to be! In further support, also, of the accuracy of 

 what I have above stated, relative to the blendin* 

 together of sundry substances, I was myself induced to 

 form a compound as follows, each ingredient baring 

 been procured from a most respectable manure mer* 

 chant in town :— 



Now, here is a most material discrenanm- h,^ 

 between the substances I originally J^Wp 

 analysis subsequently. That a chemical* act£. S* 

 their combination would take place and mV * 

 change in some respects, I was perfectly wpII V uce J 

 but the analysis especially tenls to 1^1 ,^,5 

 ration of the simple ingredients must have exiSf 

 an enormous extent, reducing, indeed, the value of fh! 

 compound, I may say, to one half of its cost or I 

 beyond that; and hence the necessity of cauH™ k^ 

 exercised with regard to purchased^- " £g 

 simple or compound. i ei 



. ?° *• * at the farmer may be protected from the 

 risk ot disbursing his money unprofitablv in wn^u • 

 himself with any of these portable manC ?ti2 

 strongly recommend his insisting to be furnished alone 

 with the commodity, by the party from *hom it & 

 obtained, with a minute analysis thereof, and when 

 received, his having it again submitted to the investi- 

 gation of an adept chemist employed by himself. The 

 facilities afforded by means of the agricultural societies 

 now established throughout the country, will enable him 

 to effect this, without any difficulty, at a very moderate 

 charge, and he will, no doubt, find the trifle thus 

 expended well laid out In this 



.. . way all fraud or 



disappointment may be averted, as he will thereby be 

 made fully cognisant, previous to his purchasing, of 

 what the manure is composed, and can have his remedy 

 if, upon delivery, it should differ in quality from the 

 statement given. Without such information it is in 

 fact like "buying a pig in a poke." 



With the guano supplied by Messrs. Gibbs, a certi- 

 ficated analysis may always be had from them, and the 

 price of the article is regulated according thereto, by 

 which means the purchaser may be satisfied that he is 

 fairly dealt with. By thus mentioning them, however, 

 I beg to say, that I possess no interested motive what- 

 ever, being wholly unacquainted with them personally; 

 indeed, never having even seen, to my knowledge, any 

 member of their establishment. I do so merely becaus 

 I have invariably found every reason to be satisfied 

 with what I have on sundry occasions obtained from 

 them ; but there are, no doubt, also others in the trade 

 who may be depended upon acting quite as honourably. 



In a very able statement and numerous analyses of 

 Professor Way, published in the Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England, Vol. X., he has most 

 distinctly and satisfactorily demons 1 that, with 

 regard to genuine guano, the purchaser obtains his 

 full money value at the price now charged for it in 

 this country. How far the same may occur in respect 

 to the other manures of commerce in the d "ker, simple 

 or complex, or those that are home prepared, it is, of 

 course, impossible for me here to determine. All I 

 can repeat here to the reader is, in concluding my sub- 

 ject, let hi in take care to ascertain that such is really 

 the case, before he parts with his cash, whether the 

 commodity be patented or not. Ver. Sap., Nov. 28. 



§ • * 



• •• 



9o lbs. dry urate (prepared by precipitating 



gypsum in urine) 

 superphosphate of lime 

 sulphate of ammonia 

 Eulphate of soda 

 sulphate of magnesia 

 sulphate of potash 

 nitrate of soda ... 

 nitrate of potash 



chloride of potassium 



chloride of sodium (common salt) 



Cast. 



Parts 



in 100. 



56 

 42 



23 

 2i 



14 



21 



14 

 14 



28 





• • . 



• . • 



• • i 



ti 



• • • 



• • • 



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• t • 



• • • 



» * . 



t i t 



• • l 



• • • 



t • i 



• t - 



336 



ii 



or 3 cwt. 



£ 



£ 



s. 



d. 









1 



4 



20.56 







3 



G 



10.224 







G 







12.168 



') 



1 



C 



8.112 



f) 



1 



10J 



6.84 







3 







4.56 







2 



7J 



6.84 







3 



6 



4.5G 



9 



2 



7 



4.5<; 











4 



8.112 



a 



as this mixture 



100.000 



^ 



and 



cultivation would to a certain extent 



want of 



Plpm^j - 18 I" 18 mixt I ire a PP^ently contains every 

 element m the way of ammonia, alkaline substances, 



Pnf.^S C *li Pr0p0rtl0Ilatel y divided > that are ^und to 



thltif ™ S\5" Cl * Ee °/ P knts > 1 certainJ y expected 

 that it would have proved at least equal, if not prefer- 



L theLf P^ * "Vaunting to about the same 

 as the best Peruvian Conceive, then, my disappoint- 

 ment at receiving the annexed analysis of it made 

 >y Dr. Anderson, together with the 

 letter, viz. — 



I UNDER-DRAINING. 



All wet soils must be thoroughly drruned, to render 

 them in a fit state to be cultivated with the greatest 

 advantage, whether the 's tnesfl arises from springs or 

 surface water. After the land is drained, open furrows 

 will seldom be required ; if they are, the draining, m 

 all probability, has been ineffectually and partially 

 executed, and consequently the laud will be only in i 

 slight degree improved. One main object in draining] 

 to admit the whole of the rain-water to percolate 

 through the soil and subsoil, carrying v.ith it air to 

 the subsoil, and leaving the greater pa ot f*J 

 fertilizing matter., it contains in the surface soil, rende - 

 ing the one more fertib and gradually altering ana 

 ameliorating the t-xturc of the other. When water ^ 

 allowed to escape by ©pen furrows it must carry wit 

 a portion of the soil itself, together with some manur 

 that may have been carried on the land at a gr 

 expense, with all the fertilizing matters the ram-wa * 

 may itself contain. In this case, the subsoil rcmai^ 1 ^ 

 improved, instead of gradually becoming ameliorated j 

 frequent percolation of water through it, and consequen j 

 a free admission of air into it. 



accompanying 



r ... be attained by effectual 



under-draining; first, to admit the rain-water to p 



There are two great points to 



. . • 



^ter 



Organic matter 

 Peroxide of iron and alumina 

 Phosphate of lime 

 Common salt... 



Sulphate of soda 

 gulpha* of potash ... 



Sulphate of ammonia 

 Gypsum 



Carbonate of lime ." 

 Carbonate of magnesia 



sand and insoluble matter 



• • » 



• ■ • 



• • « 



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• • • 



• • . 



1 1 • 



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• •0 



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• • • 



t I | 



• . . 



• •• 



• • • 



* I i 



••• 



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• ». 



11.013 

 4.826 



1.154 



4.1)41 



5.275 

 #.759 



4.230 

 4.178 



1< 46 



11.151 

 100.189 



freely through the soil and subsoil, and, next, to re i - 

 the surface soil in a more fit state for cultivation, ,an • 

 produce better rrnns. Rain-water and air, it is - 



produce better crops. Rain-water and air, it » ^ 

 known, play a more important part in the econo } 

 the vegetable kingdom than was formerly supposcu. 



w the subjectof d^P 



on 



Much has been said and written on 

 and shallow draining. The proper depth to ^ 



drains in clays and strong land will depend entut^ 

 the capacity "of saturation of the subsoil. ^ ^J A]ie 



tut ^— - -. 



Id placed in ■ 



descent of" the water through the soil and subsoi^ 

 - Id p 



jsoi 



saturated, the water ceases to descend, but rat e 



drains cannot act any more than they wouia P a meS 

 dry sand or gravel ; but immediately the subsoiJ ice ^ 



