546 



THE AOBICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



who have the interests of agriculture at 

 heart. The new manure is ah-eady on the 

 market at Home, and the Scotch agents of 

 the patentees report that they have sold 

 400 tons, and that it is taking very welj. 



The drawbacks to the use of super- 

 phosphate, which this invention is de- 

 signed to obviate, are chiefly due to its 

 acidity. Superphosphate is made by 

 acting on mineral phosphate or bones 

 with sulphuric acid, which converts 

 the insoluble phosphate into the mono- 

 calcic or soluble variety. It has the ad- 

 vantage of being quick in action, and 

 it very rapidly diffuses through the soil ; 

 but these advantages depend largely on 

 the presence of sufficient lime in the soil 

 to combine with the acid phosphate and 

 to neutralise its acidity. If the soil is 

 itself acid, as is often the case with vlei 

 soils and those rich in decomposing vege- 

 table matter, the soluble phosphate re- 

 mains in that condition, and is liable to 

 be washed out of the soil, which explains 

 the complaint so often heard, that nothing 

 is left after the first year. But even if 

 the soil- be not acid, in the absence of 

 lime the phosphate combines with any 

 other base that may be present, usually 

 iron, and takes a form in which its solu- 

 bility is lost, or at least impaired. There 

 is also a tendency for the use of super- 

 phosphate to cominually reduce the 

 amount of lime in the soil ; and where 

 lime is expensive, as it is in this country, 

 wholesale liming is too costly to be prac- 

 ticable. In addition to this, there is 

 always a danger in the use of acid 

 manures on lime-free soils, that the nitri- 

 fying organisms, on which so much of 

 the fertility of land depends, work only 

 with difficulty, or not at all, in the 

 presence of acid ; and thus the crop is 



deprived of its proper amount of nitro- 

 genous nourishment. 



While, then, on suitable soils, the 

 ordinary form of superphosphate (and 

 most mixed or special manures have this 

 for their chief ingredient) is capable of 

 doing lexcellent service, it has been the 

 rule, on soils deficient in lime, to use 

 alkaline or neutral manures, as bone dust, 

 basic slag, guano, etc. These have all 

 shown good results, but are inferior to 

 superphosphate in quickness of action. 

 The new product is designed to remedy 

 this inferiority and to produce a manure 

 nearly or quite as rapid as superphosphate, 

 and without its disadvantages, the idea 

 being to imitate before application what 

 takes place after application in a soil with 

 a fair percentage .of lime in its composi- 

 tion. A somewhat similar product was 

 formerly made, known as precipitated 

 phosphate, but its manufacture has, I 

 believe, been discontinued on the score 

 of expense ; the new product is claimed 

 to be much cheaper. The same end has 

 also been aimed at in a rougher way by 

 making a compost of bone dust and 

 superphosphate, and allowing it to fer- 

 ment for a few weeks ; also by mixing 

 superphosphate and basic slag. The 

 latter mixture I have been roundly 

 blamed for advocating ; but I still believe 

 in it, and a correspondent lately reports 

 good results from its use. 



I hope the manure manufacturers will 

 take the invention up, and that the product 

 may be before long available for trial. Its 

 success here depends largely on the price 

 at which it is placed on the market ; it 

 would probably need using as freely, or 

 nearly so as basic slag ; but its superior 

 quickness should compensate for a slight 

 difference in price. 



Rinderpest at Van Reenen's. 



ON the 28th ult., the Minister of Agri- 

 culture received a report that rinder- 

 pest had broken out amongst native cattle 

 on the farm Doornhoek, Sandspruit, under 

 Van Reenen's Pass. Mr. H. Watkins- 

 Pitchford, Director Veterinary Depart- 

 ment, was at Van Reenen's at the time, 

 and he immediately i)roceeded to the 

 scene of the outbreak ; after invest>iga- 



tion, he declared the disease to be un- 

 doubtedly rinderpest. Mr. Woollatt, 

 P.V.S., proceeded to the spot, and in- 

 oculated the cattle. The cattle weie 

 promptly isolated, and every precau- 

 tion was taken. The outbreak is on 

 the slopes of the Berg. It is possible 

 that the infection may have been caused 

 by cattle which had strayed from the 



