On Cropping and Cultivating Light Land. 



93 



sown upon the living plant in February or March, it has no per- 

 nicious influence, but cleanses it from worms and grubs, as well as 

 from many weeds, by checking and destroying their growth. 



Guano is frequently sown as a top-dressing for wheat in the 

 spring, generally from 1 to 2 cwt. per acre. If used in showery 

 weather, and when spring has fairly set in, it has an immediate 

 effect upon the growth and colour of the plant, hastening its 

 growth and darkening its colour. It invariably increases the 

 quantity of straw, and, when used judiciously, increases the crop 

 of corn by several bushels per acre. One of the best methods of 

 sowing guano broadcast is to mix with it a sufficient quantity of 

 common salt to prevent the loss of the dust which so commonly 

 escapes, and by giving it more weight to enable the sower to 

 distribute it more evenly. 



Nitrate of soda is used with like effect upon chalks and 

 sands : like guano, its first effect, if sown in showery weather, 

 and when the wheat is beginning to grow, is to give the blade a 

 darker hue. Half, three-quarters, or one cwt. per acre is generally 

 applied, either by itself, or being previously mixed with salt : 

 where salt is sown, it is mixed to secure its more equal dis- 

 tribution and to economise the labour of sowing. This manure 

 invariably increases the quantity of straw, and, when wisely 

 used, it increases the crop of corn, sometimes to the extent of 

 3 sacks per acre. From various experiments made by Mr. John 

 Evershed, of Albury, Surrey, an increase of 3 sacks has been 

 secured in some years by using 1 cwt. of this manure, while in 

 other years, when the weather has been less favourable, the crop 

 would have been as good without it. Still upon farms where it 

 has once been used, it is almost invariably applied more or less 

 every year. In a wet spring and summer it has a tendency to 

 produce blight and a weak bent straw, which becomes lodged 

 too soon to allow the ears to fill well. And this is always the 

 case where too much has been sown upon land already richly 

 manured. But when sown early enough to be dissolved and 

 carried to the roots of the plant, if a dry summer follows its 

 effects are remarkable. 



From various experiments and calculations, it appears that, 

 comparing the value of guano with that of nitrate of soda as 

 manure for wheat, the money value of the quantities required 

 of each to produce the same effect is nearly equal. 



There is a singular instance of the value of nitrate of soda 

 as a manure upon Mr. Evershed's farm. One of his fields, a 

 useful light loam, lying at the foot and side of a sterile sandy 

 mound, near the base of a range of chalk hills, has a footpath 

 crossing one upper corner, which divides 50 rods of lighter 

 land from the rest of the field. The whole field, including this 



