1922.] 



Notes on Manures for April 



75 



ones. This remark of course docs not apply to hay land, 

 where potash frequently gives good results. 



Lime on Pastures: Is it any use?— Considerable diversity of 

 opinion was expressed at the meeting of the Farmers' Club, 

 where Professor Somerviile read his paper on the Improvement 

 of Poor Pasture, as to whether lime is of value for this purpose. 

 There is nnich evidence that lime alone will not effect a pro- 

 fitable improvement of such land, but this is only in accordance 

 with old farming experience. 



" Lime, and lime without manure, 

 Will make both land and farmer poor." 



It is not surprising therefore that neither at Cockle Park, 

 nor in Northamptonshire and Hampshire, did lime alone give 

 any useful result. Indeed, at Cockle Park the continued use 

 of a small dressing of lime at three years intervals appears now 

 to be doing positive harm. 



The case, however, is different when lime is used in con- 

 junction ivith slag or cake, and cases were quoted in the dis- 

 cussion where this combination had given useful results. 



It is often stated that lime in the slag should suffice for the 

 purpose of pasture land, but as a matter of fact only about 2 

 per cent, of free lime is usually present, so that a dressing of 

 10 cwt. of slag per acre would supply only 22^ lb. of lime. 

 While this small quantity would do something, one could not 

 expect it tc do mjich. There is, however, often B5 per cent, or 

 more of combined lime, w^hich might prove useful. 



In a number of the Royal Agricultural Society's tnals lime 

 proved of value on pasture land, but it is not as certain in its 

 effects as slag, and farmers should try a small scale experiment 

 before embarkinor on any large expenditure. On hay land lime 

 may be more effective. 



Organic Manures v. Artificials. — This question was discussed 

 at some length in a paper in this Journal (Vol. XXYI, p. 228, 

 1920), where it was shown that the experiments up to that date 

 indicated no superiority of organic manures (guano, rape dust, 

 etc.) over a cheaper mixture of artificials, and recent experiments 

 confirm this conclusion. The system of manuring on the Tiittle 

 Hoos lield at Rothamsted was somewhat altered in 1019 so as to 

 allow of a strict comparison between artificials and organic 

 manures without detracting from the original scheme of the 

 experiment, and the result has been to show the value of the 

 artificials. 



