I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



557 



Seed. 



Straw. 



27 - '^ rfi 



. 17 



40 l-10th... 



I 3 



38 



. 14 



40 6-10ths. . 



1 4 



39^ 



. 1 3 



44 l-5th. . 



1 7 



27 



. 16 



Soil simple, 



2^ cwt. Peruvian guano 

 If cwt. nitrate of soda, 

 180 lbs. of nitrate of soda. 



1 cwt. common salt, . . 

 4 cwt. Proctor's wheat 



manure, 



6 cwt. ditto di' 

 Chalk marl 4 tons,. . . 



There are some recent reported trials by 

 Mr. Dove, of Eecles Newton, Kelso, which 

 rather encourage us to the hope that certain 

 top-dressings may be applied with advan- 

 tage much later in the season than is usu- 

 ally the practice. In his trials, (Trans. 

 High. Society, 1860, p. 229,) the dressings 

 to the grass were generally applied on the 

 13th of May. The following are the re- 

 ported results ; those described in italics, 

 however, had the dressings divided into 

 three portions, a third being applied on the 

 13th of May, the others on the 27th of 

 May and the 23d of June, the cost of each 

 manure being £1 17s. per acre, and the 

 produce given in tons and cwts. : 



Tons 



Soil simple, 1 



3 cwt. guano, 2 



3 cwt. guano, 1 



2 cwt. nitrate of soda,. 1 



2 cwt. niltate of soda, 1 



Cwts. 



4 





 15 

 17 

 19 



The same experiment repeated on anoth< 

 portion of the field : 



Soil simple, 



3 cwt. guano, . . 



3 cwt. guano, 



2 cwt. of nitrate of soda,. ... 1 

 2 cwt. nitrate of soda, 2 



Tons. 

 1 



' 2 



O 



Cwts. 

 10 



1 





 18 



The practical observations of Mr. Dove 

 are well worthy of our earnest attention. 

 He tells us, when commenting upon the re- 

 sult of his own experiments, {ibid, p. 220,) 

 that he has generally found application to 

 grass of 3 cwt. of guano per acre to be 

 equal to 2 cwt. of nitrate of soda, but that 

 when a dry season occurs nitrate of soda 

 has a decided advantage. He says, u Even 

 if guano is applied on a wet day, and appa- 

 rently well washed in, if it should immedi- 

 ately after set in for some weeks of dry 

 weather, I have always observed that it has 

 not nearly the same effect as it has when 

 the weather continues damp for sometime 

 after; while nitrate of soda, if once washed 

 in, never loses its effect. Taking this into 



consideration, along with the fact that it 

 requires less rain to wash it in, I consider 

 nitrate of soda decidedly preferable to 

 guano as a manure for grass. G-uano should 

 only be used when the weather is' favoura- 

 ble for getting it applied in April : when 

 this can be done, it answers very well to 

 apply a moderate quantity of it, and after- 

 wards a little nitrate of soda sometime in 

 May. 



In top-dressing potato oats on the 15th 

 of April and the 23d of May, the produce 

 per acre in Mr. Dove's trial was as fol- 

 lows : 



11 stones of nitrate of soda and } 



2 cwt. of common salt on the > 56 bushels. 

 15th of April, ) 



11 stones of nitrate of soda and } 



2 cwt. of common salt on the. > 02 bushels. 

 23d of May, ) 



In the very elaborate and valuable ex- 

 periments at Rothamsted, by Messrs. Laws 

 and Gilbert, on top-dressing old pasture 

 land, other very important objects of in- 

 quiry have been steadily and successfully 

 pursued. The results of these important 

 researches have been reported in volumes 

 xix. and xx. of the Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, and these will be ad- 

 vantageously reperused by the farmer, for 

 they contain much more valuable matter 

 than may appear at the first reading. The 

 main object of these laborious inquiries was 

 to determine the effect of certain nitrogen- 

 ous and mineral substances applied for suc- 

 cessive seasons to the same jilots of natural 

 pasture ; and to ascertain not only the 

 amount of hay and aftermath produced by 

 each, but also the different kinds of grass 

 whose growth might be encouraged by the 

 continued application of these different 

 dressings. These natural grasses they di- 

 vide in their elaborate report into three 

 classes, viz. : 



1. The Graminaceous Heritage.— In this 

 is included the common rye grass, the 

 woolly soft grass, the tall oat-like grass, the 

 sweet scented vernal grass, the bent grass, 

 the quaking grass, the crested dog's-tail 

 grass, the rough cock's-foot grass, the 

 smooth-tailed meadow grass, the soft brome 

 grass, the meadow oat grass, &c. 



2. The Leguminous Herbage. — In this 

 class they specify as present in the Rotham- 

 sted grass land the meadow vetchling, the 



