36o 



Value of Moss Litter. 



[SEPT., 



during the past ten years, the output in 1896 being 191,000 tons. 

 The most important contributor is the gas industry, and here 

 the production has steadily, though not very rapidly, increased, 

 but the most notable development in England and Wales has 

 been the rapid extension of the application of ammonia re- 

 covery to coke oven plants. 



The increasing production has been accompanied by a growth 

 in the export trade from 128,000 tons in 1896 to 150,000 tons in 

 1901 and 189,000 tons in 1905. The value of the exports in 

 1905 was ;^2, 382,000. Spain, Japan, Germany and Java are the 

 principal importers, and one of the noticeable features of last 

 year's trade was the large purchases made for Japan, which 

 took nearly 34,000 tons, compared with 1 5,000 tons in the 

 preceding year and only 1,000 tons in 1901. 



The price of this manure has been subject to very considerable 

 variations. In 1894 the average value of the sulphate exported 

 was about ^^13 83. 5d. per ton, while in 1897 it had fallen to 

 £j 19s. 5d. per ton. Since then the value has risen fairly 

 steadily, the average for 1905 being about £\2 12s. per ton. 



Both straw and peat, in common with other cellulose sub- 

 stances, have the power of absorbing nitrogen, though in various 



degrees, and in some experiments carried 

 Value of Moss T /.u c .1. 17 f a • u 1 

 Litter ^ South Eastern Agricultural 



College the absorptive power of peat moss 

 was found to be five times as great as that of the straw. The 

 value of peat moss, in fact, depends upon the amount of liquid it . 

 can absorb more than upon any other property, but there is con- 

 siderable difference in different samples. For instance, in three 

 samples examined on behalf of the Cockle Park Demonstration 

 Farm, Morpeth, it was found that one sample was capable of 

 absorbing 1 1 times its own weight of water, while two other 

 samples took up only 9*4' and 9*2 units of water respectively. 

 The difference in the amount of water absorbed by these 

 samples is of considerable importance, a ton of the better 

 sample of litter being capable of absorbing as much water as 

 \\ tons of the other samples. It is also important that moss 

 litter should be easily broken up, as when it remains in lumps 

 these are found in the dung unsaturated with liquid manure. 



