Miscellaneous, 



376 



| April, 1909. 



have a heavy clay, while in the north- 

 west of Burdwan we get light sandy 

 soils, but in every district that I have 

 mentioned, we find all kinds of soil 

 varying from clay to sand. All these 

 soils ag ee generally in being poor in 

 organic matter. Satan soils are rich in 

 lime and poor in phosphoric acid and 

 lime and contain some potash. Orissa 

 soils are poor in all four ingredients, 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash and 

 lime. So it will be found all over the Pro- 

 vince that even in one village some land 

 will be found to contain sufficient phos- 

 phoric acid, while in the neighbouring 

 fields, probably, phosphoric acid will 

 be wanting. 



2. One crop has preference for one 

 kind of plant food while another crop 

 requires a larger supply of another 

 element to attain its maximum growth. 

 For example, leguminous crops (Dais) 

 require plenty of lime and potash to 

 attain their maximum growth, while 

 cereals (paddy, wheat and barley) require 

 a good suply of nitrogen and phos- 

 phoric acid to attain their maximum. 



This shows the advantages, the impor- 

 tance and the necessity of a rotation of 

 crops. 



The law of minimum is very impor- 

 tant in the manuring of crops. This law 

 is " the minimum amount of one ingre- 

 dient of plant food in a soil governs 

 the total crop obtained." For instance, 

 if to produce a crop of 30 maunds of 

 paddy, 40 lbs. of available nitrogen, 30 

 lbs. of available phosphoric acid, 30 lbs. 

 of available lime and 35 lbs. of available 

 potash are necessary, then if only 20 lbs. 

 of nitrogen are present, although the 

 phosphoric acid, j potash and lime are 

 present in sufficient quantities, only a 

 crop equal to the 20 lbs. of nitrogen 

 can be obtained, Iu other words, only 

 a crop of 15 maunds of paddy can be 

 produced. The remedy in a ease like 

 this would be to apply the other 

 20 lbs. of nitrogen. Similarly if potash, 

 lime or phosphoric acid were wanting, 

 these would have to be applied to get 

 the larger crop. 



These remarks will enable anyone to 

 understand that with a given crop one 

 standard manurial application will not 

 have the same effect in every part of 

 the Province. For instance, it at Burd- 

 win where the soil is poor in nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid and, lime, an application 

 of three maunds of bonemeal and 30 seers 

 of saltpetre has a wonderful effect on 

 the out-turn of the paddy crop it will 

 necessarily follow that the same effect 

 will be obtained elsewhere in the Pro- 

 vince. On the contrary it is more than 

 likely that one mile away from where 

 the experiments are carried out this 



application will have no effect whatso- 

 ever. How could it, if this precise 

 area is rich in phosphoric acid and 

 lime? The problem of ''what manures 

 shall I apply ?" is one for the indi- 

 vidual farmer or raiyat to solve, and 

 when one considers the millions of 

 poor raiyats that are in this province 

 alone, one will easily understand the 

 danger of recommending a manurial 

 application suitable for the whole 

 Province. The expert is non-pluss-ed 

 when he gets fifty letters from fifty 

 different places in the Province stating 

 "they have read with pleasure the 

 report on the manuring of paddy with 

 bonemeal and saltpetre, and will he send 

 them sufficient for 1-5 acre with definite 

 instructions how to act? Probably 80 

 per cent, of these don't require to 

 apply bonemeal at all. Accordingly, 

 the scientist is quite staggered when 

 he is asked to do something for the 

 Province as regards manuring when he 

 finds the most intelligent cultivators 

 have such a vague idea of the problem 

 in question. To recommend a manurial 

 application that would cost money 

 to a poor cultivator, and that appli- 

 cation to have no effect on the crop 

 can only end in bringing discredit 

 on the Department and a feeling of 

 distrust that would not be eradicated 

 for a generation. 



The above explains how with all the 

 best iutentions in the world we can 

 lead people astray. Many of our culti- 

 vators in Bengal know full well the 

 value of manure and are not afraid to 

 use it, and we must take special care 

 to guide them in the right way. Crores 

 of rupees are being spent annually on 

 manures in other countries, and 1 don't 

 see why Bengal should not spend a little 

 more than she is doing. 



Now in Bengal there is one factor that 

 is common to every district, viz., 

 " Poverty of soil in orgauic matter, and 

 that is something definite that we can 

 act upon." 



Manures can be divided into two kinds, 

 — 1st, General ; 2nd, Special. 



1st. — General. — A general manure is 

 one that supplies all the most important 

 ingredients of plant life, viz., nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, potash and lime, and 

 the ingredients are generally present 

 in an insoluble state. 



General manures are rich in orgauic 

 matter. 



2nd.— Specials. — A special manure or 

 an artificial manure is one that supplies 

 only one or two of the ingredients of 

 plant life, and the ingredients are 

 generally present in a soluble state. 



