Comparative Effects of different Manures on Grass Lands. 643 
thereby remove a very large proportion of tlie alkalies ; and the result 
is that the herbage becomes poor, and the produce falls otf. It is 
difficult to conceive why the farmer is so anxious to apply nearly all 
his farmyard-manm-e to his arable land, and deals it out in such a 
niggardly manner to his pastiu'e. 
But, in addition to farmyard-manure, there are other fertilizers 
which may be used with very great effect. Guano, judiciously used 
— that is to say, used on land like many of the clay soils, which 
constitute, perhaps, most of oiu* pasture soils— produces a very ex- 
cellent effect upon the produce. Better, perhaps, than guano alone, 
or bones alone, is a mixture of the two. Indeed, I should like for 
an average description of land the following mixture : partially- 
dissolved bones, or bone-dust, dissolved with a sufficient quantity 
of sulphuric acid to render a portion of the phosphates soluble. 
We obtain partially-dissolved bones by applying to bone-dust one- 
third of its weight of sulphiuric acid ; 4 cwts. of partially- dissolved 
bones, 2 cwts. of Peruvian guano, and 1 cwt. of salt, perhajis, will 
produce a manm-e for pasture which, whilst it will materially increase 
the produce, will not to any great extent deteriorate the quality 
of the grass, as might be the case if we used guano alone in the rate 
of 4 cwts. per acre. This mixtm-e contains the chief mineral . con- 
stituents required by our grasses and leguminous crops, and adds a 
fair amoimt of ammoniacal matter to give us a good yield. The 
addition of salt is of use, particularly on light land, by keeping it in 
a moist condition. 
An excess of salt ought, however, to be carefully avoided. I re- 
member that some years agcwMr. Sotheron-Estcourt tried some expe- 
riments on his own farm with nitrate of soda and salt. He used on 
one plot a mixture of 1^ cwt. of nitrate of soda and 10? cwts. of salt, 
that by the addition of the salt he might make the money value of 
the mixtm'e equal to that allowed on his other similar experiments. 
Here the addition of salt to the nitrate of soda destroyed the peculiar 
effect of the nitrate almost entirely, and the increase of produce was 
very small indeed. The same mixtm-e when tried on another farm of 
Mr. Estcourt's, on very wet land, had the same effect : it actually 
reduced the herbage. Salt in excessive quantity checks vegetation ; 
and hence, on wet land, it ought to be used with great judgment. 
The effects produced by the application of bone-dust to pastures 
are very variable. On the porous land of Cheshire, and similar soils 
on the red sandstone formation, the result is very striking. Not only 
do bones there bring out white and red clover, but promote an 
abimdance of the growth of succulent grasses. The clover itself 
becomes very luxuriant and thus helps to increase the produce. On 
laud which is wet and cold, and rests on a poor vmdrained subsoil, 
bones often produce no effect. A great many pastm-es in tlie West 
of England, in , Somerset, and Devon, a considerable portion of the 
grass land in Gloucestershire, and, I may add, some of the heavy 
land which I have seen in Shropshire, cannot be improved by bones. 
Before, therefore, much money is spent on bone manure, I would 
recommend that a trial should be made on a small scale. 
