Artificial Manures for Swedes. 
95 
or even if it is applied two to three months before tliat period. 
But if the same lefuse is added to the land lono^ before the 
sowing of the crop which it is intended to benefit, or if by some 
means or the other it is brought into a state in which it will 
readily ferment, in which case it may be applied at once to the 
young wheat, a very marked effect will be observed to follow the 
application of shoddy to corn crops. For under these circum- 
stances shoddy, which contains from 3 to 5 per cent, of nitrogen, 
gradually will give rise to the formation of ammonia, which it is 
well known benefits cereals in an especial manner. In light and 
porous soils this necessary preparation proceeds much more 
rapidly than in stiff heavy soils, and consequently the condition 
of the land will likewise modify the action of this refuse manure. 
Under the most favourable circumstances, however, shoddy ought 
to be used in an unprepared state, for the interval between the 
ingathering of a green crop and the preparation of the land for 
the corn crop is generally too short to allow the wool refuse to 
enter into decoinposition ; its effects consequently are lost upon 
the crop which it is intended to benefit, and unless a second corn- 
crop is grown, shoddy will but little benefit the second crop in 
the rotation, for it is a refuse which owes its fertilising effect 
almost altogether to the nitrogen it contains, and which furnishes 
on decomposition ammonia, and as ammonia does not exhibit the 
same powerful effect on other crops which it does on the cereals, 
the chief advantages which may be derived from the application 
of shoddy are lost. 
These examples, I hope, will be sufficient to prove the cor- 
rectness of the remarks which have been made. They are 
remarks founded on actual facts which have come under my per- 
sonal notice. 
I might easily point out other cases, with which I have become 
personally acquainted, as bearing on this subject, but this will 
perhaps be superfluous, and I will therefore merely observe, in 
addition to the remarks already made, that when all care, at- 
tention, and labour have been applied, uncontrollable circum- 
stances often interfere which spoil the experiments in the field. 
It affords me, therefore, much pleasure to have the privilege 
of giving an account of some experimental trials which were 
made last season, under peculiarly favourable circumstances, 
on the farm attached to the Royal Agricultural College. These 
experiments were made on Swedish turnips, with the following 
fertilisers : — 
1. Guano. 
2. Mixture of guano and dissolved coprolites, 
3. Bone-dust. 
4. Home-made superphosphate of lime. 
