1870.] ( 376 ) 



CHRONICLES OF SCIENCE, 



fitthtbiitg fljc IJrotecVmcfs of y«tntc& Societies at |jome trab ^Unroair; 

 mrtr Uo&fs of Betent Soenfilc literature. 



1. AGKICULTUBE. 



The extreme drought of the past three months is by far the most im- 

 portant of recent agricultural events to put upon our record. Already, 

 in early June, throughout the southern counties, pastures are be- 

 coming bare and brown, and spring-sown crops are dwindling. Clover 

 and other forage crops are not yielding half their usual produce to the 

 scythe ; wheat alone has not yet materially suffered, but a continuance 

 of dry weather must injure the wheat harvest too. Wheat, indeed, 

 " needs no rain after May ; " but that is only when May itself has 

 soaked the ground. The usefulness of artificial manures depends very 

 much on the wetness of the growiug season. No applications in the 

 way of top-dressings to growing crops are made when they would 

 obviously be useless ; and this great aid and stimulant to fertility 

 being lost, the year's produce thus suffers indirectly also from the 

 drought. The Cirencester Chamber of Agriculture has reported 

 the favourable results of top-dressings of nitrate of soda and super- 

 phosphate of lime on the wheat and barley crops of the Cotswold soils. 

 On three experimental plots, the average increase of grain per acre 

 per 100 lbs. of the former dressing by itself was 276 lbs. The 

 average increase per acre of four plots per 100 lbs. of the former 

 together with 200 lbs. of the latter dressing was 517 lbs. of grain. 

 In other cases the difference due to the added superphosphate was 

 not so great; but the conclusion, upon the whole, seems to have 

 been that nitrate of soda, applied as a spring top-dressing to wheat, 

 whether by itself or not, yields a satisfactory increase of produce ; 

 though the result of the combined dressing of superphosphate together 

 with the nitrate was still more satisfactory. The practice of top- 

 dressing grain crops in spring is a growing one; and as no one 

 thinks of making this application, except in wet weather, this is 

 an advantage which this year's harvest will have lost. 



Dr. Voelcker continues to report to the Koyal Agricultural So- 

 ciety of England the results of his constant analyses of commercial 

 manures and cattle foods — showing to how much fraud and roguery 

 English agriculturists are exposed. Guano is this year unusually 

 various in its composition — even genuine Peruvian guano is some- 

 times damaged by sea-water, or contains an excessive quantity of 

 sand. Samples are reported containing as much as 17 per cent. 

 of water and 5 to 9 per cent, of useless mineral matter, and 

 only 12 to 13 per cent, of ammonia — being thus worth less by 30s. 

 or 40s. a ton than the price at which Peruvian guano is now sold. 



