364 



On Nitrate of Soda. 



Owner. 



Nitrate 



Present 



Undressed 



Nitrated 



Increase. 



per Acre. 



Cost. 



Land. 



Land. 





s. rf. 



Bush. 



Hush. 



Bushels. 



. Hon. II. Wilson 



I cwt. 



16 6 



18 



32 



14 



. Mr. Fleming . . 



. 160 lbs. 



23 6 



14 



26 



12 



. Mr. Calvert . . 



1 cwt. 



16 6 



25f 



37| 



12 



. Mr. Newman . 



1 cwt. 



16 6 



40 



60 



20 



to 3 bushels of wlieat was in this instance yielded by a quantity 

 of nitrate worth not 55., but os. Ad. This profit is indeed beyond 

 the average ; but here are other instances in which nitrate has 

 evinced extraordinary energy. 



Crop. 



Barle}-- 

 Rye . . 

 Wheat . 

 Oats . 



These may be called happy accidents ; but we must remember 

 that the word accident, applied to Nature, only covers our own 

 ignorance of her laws — an ignorance which, by careful experiment, 

 we must hope with time to clear up : meanwhile we have already 

 learnt a great deal. When this saltpetre was first introduced it 

 was applied in large quantities, and occasionally even did mischief. 

 Through the excessive stimulus the straw of wheat sometimes 

 turned black-green, grew immoderately, and mildewed the grain. 

 Sometimes these full doses, if administered in dry weather, scorched 

 the young blade, as sheep's urine scorches grass upon a parched 

 soil. Again, if much rain followed, the corn, shooting up too 

 rapidly, was of course weakened, and the crop laid as if by 

 a roller. From one or other of these three causes it now and then 

 happened that at harvest nitre was found, while it had augmented 

 the bulk of the straw, to have diminished the yield of good grain, 

 and it was therefore almost given up, as wild and unmanage- 

 able ; but means have been lately found to tame this intemperate 

 vigour, as we first learned from Mr. Caird,* the ' Times ' Com- 

 missioner, who describes the new method as follows : — 



" At Holkham the whole of the young wheats, 280 acres in extent, have a 

 top-dressing applied to them, in spring, of 6 stones of nitrate of soda mixed 

 with 16 stones of salt to the acre. 



" This quantity is applied in equal moieties at intervals of three weeks or a 

 month, beginning early in March and ending about the 20th of April. It has 

 been found in practice better to lay it on so than to apply it all at once. . . 

 In top-dressing his wheat Mr. Overman uses 1 cwt. nitrate of soda mixed with 

 2 cwt. of common salt, applied in two dressings, as already described. . . 

 On Sussex Farm Mr. Blyth follows the same system of top-dressing his wheat." 



It was this last gentleman, Mr. Blyth, who first discovered the 

 method of using nitre with safety .f If we thus add salt, which is 

 known to brighten and strengthen the straw, administer moderate 

 doses, and at some intervals, mixing the nitrate well with the salt, 



* These letters have just been published under the title of ' English Agriculture 

 and vphoever wishes to acquaint himself with the practical variety of English farmi- 

 ing should, above all, study that book. 



t Mr. Blyth has also invented a machine for broadcasting the nitrate, which re- 

 ceived our Society's prize this year at Lewes. Those, however, who are disinclined 

 to purchase an implement can have the nitrate perfectly well spread by hand, as in 

 common sowine-. 



