On Manures and on the Growth of Turnips. 



2G7 



those compounds which attract water from the atmosphere with great 

 avidity, and might supply the place of gypsum in decomposing car- 

 bonate of ammonia, with the formation of sal-ammoniac and carbonate 

 of lime. A solution of bones in muriatic acid placed on land in autumn 

 or winter would therefore not only restore a necessary constituent of the 

 soil, and attract moisture to it, but would also give it the power to 

 retain all the ammonia which falls upon it dissolved in the rain during 

 the period of six months." 



Acting upon this hint, I propose to lay on this manure, next fiiU, or 

 early in the winter, upon a piece of oat-stubble, without mixing it with 

 road-scrapings and ashes, at the rate of about 10 tons per acre ; the fiekl 

 measures about 10 acres, which I shall divide equally, — half I shall 

 manure in this manner, half with dung at the rate of 20 tons per acre, 

 and a fair result of the four crops shall be forwarded to you. I feel 

 confident, however, in the success of the application of the glue-dross, 

 as I have tried it for three years, always dressing highly with other 

 manures, and I can safely affirm that in the wheat-crop, barley, and 

 clover a visible and superior effect was always produced by the use of 

 this manure. I only trust that other persons resident near glue-factories 

 may be induced to try the experiment applied in the manner recom- 

 mended by the Professor, as I feel confident they will be satisfied with 

 the resulting production. 



2. On the Com,parative Efficacy of Bones and of Poittevins 

 Manure, as applied to Turnips. By R. A. Christopher, M. P. 



To the Secretary. 



Sir, — I beg to enclose, for the information of the Society, the 

 result of three experiments which have been made on my pro- 

 perty under the superintendence of my agent, on the comparative 

 merits of bone-dust and of Poittevin's disinfected manure. The 

 trial on the whole has been favourable to the latter, inasmuch as 

 the crop, in two instances out of three, produced from Poittevin's 

 manure, has been more abundant than that produced by the 

 application of bones ; but I am afraid that the cost of the disin- 

 fected manure will be a serious obstacle to its sale in this part 

 of the country. Some years since I visited a large farm at 

 Charenton, near Paris, which produced in its rotation large crops 

 of beetroot. The soil was of a rich loam ; and Poittevin's ma- 

 nure was administered once in four years in a smaller proportion 

 than it has been used by my tenants at Rigsby and Salmonby, 

 and, as I was assured by the occupier, with complete success. 

 The cost in Paris is, however, very much lower than what it is 

 in London. Of the three experiments made on my property 

 the last mentioned in the enclosed report is the one most favour- 

 able to the disinfected manure, inasmuch as the crop was greater 



