mo 



Notes on Manures. 



[FEB., 



Use of Gas Lime.— A correspondent asks if he can safely use 

 gas lime on his soil. This course would have been perfectly 

 safe in the autumn or early winter, but it is rather risky now, 

 especially if the sample smells strongly. Really evil-smelling 

 gas lime is a potent insecticide which can be used with considera- 

 ble effect in a pest-ridden field. It is also, however, poisonous 

 to crops, and the effect takes some time to wear off, although 

 it disappears in the course of a few weeks. 



Use of Broken Straw or Dust from threshing: on Crass Land. — During 

 threshing there is a certain amount of broken straw, cavings, 

 dust, etc., which can hardly go into the yards because it contains 

 arable weed seeds and is, therefore, sometimes carried on to 

 the grass land. If the distance is not great this may 

 be worth doing, but the material is not really very good and 

 does not justify any great expense in carting. At Rothamsted 

 the effect of chopped wheat straw on grass land was studied for 

 a number of years. Applied at the rate of nearly one ton 

 per acre, along with artificial manures, it gave increases varying 

 from 3 to lo cwt. of hay per acre on the plots receiving 

 artificials only. The results were : — 



Average Yield of Hay. Cwt. per Acre. 



1856-65. i866-y5. i8y6-gy. 

 Artificials only . . . . 53! . . 48|- . . 58I 



Artificials + 2,000 lb. chopped 55 J .. 59! .. 6j\ 

 wheat straw. 



For the first ten years the results were hardly worth the 

 labour involved, though subsequent effects were more marked. 



The Use of City Refuse as Fertiliser. — During the War 

 numerous attempts were made to utilise city refuse as fertiliser, 

 and dumps located in various districts were carefully examined. 

 In many cases, however, the material was of only low value ; 

 it usually contained only about : — 



J per cent, of nitrogen. 



1 phosphates. 



2 potash. 



On heavy land it has advantages which these figures do not 

 show, as it makes the soil lighter and more workable. These 

 advantages are often more important to allotment holders 

 than to farmers, who tend to lay down heavy land to grass. 

 Farmers who are situated near the dumps, however, would 

 be well advised to secure samples for analysis and then 

 determine whether it would be worth their while to use this 

 material. 



