508 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 8 t 18S7. 
MANURES IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE. 
Jin address delivered by Mr. Edward Luckhnrst at a meeting of the Ixworth Farmers’ 
Club, on Deoember 1st, 1887 ] 
Regarding the soil as a vehicle for plant food, it is clearly our 
lousiness as farmers to render its condition suitable for that purpose. In 
doing this we have first of all to insure thorough drainage and mechanical 
division. We then draw off superfluous water quickly, causing it to act 
as a scavenger of the soil, and also as a solvent of fertilising gases which 
pass into the soil and are taken up by the plant roots growing into it. 
Water passing thus through the soil erives place to air, which, pressing 
as it does at the rate of 15 lbs. to each square inch of surface, enters the 
soil as its pores become open to it. The high importance of this action 
will be in some degree apparent when it is understood that upwards of 
■90 per cent, of plant food comes from the air. Professor Jamieson puts 
it at 97 to 98 per cent., while the French chemist, M. Georges Ville, 
gives from 93 to 91 parts of plants as derived from air and rain. The 
difference is unimportant, if we can only grasp the principle and act 
upon it. Well-drained soil has its temperature raised, and instead of 
retaining water hurtfully to plant life, it becomes the vehicle of water 
to plants ; it gets rid of noxious matter, and in part opens the soil for 
the entrance into it of the warm fertilising atmosphere about it, thus 
promoting what has been termed circulation in the soil. In order to 
•grasp fully how much air and water contribute to the growth of plants, 
we have only to look at the bulk of a full crop taken from a field ; and 
yet although the small per-centase per acre of chemical ingredients 
added by us is comparatively trivial, yet without it and the proper cul¬ 
tivation of the soil, all the rest is useless, or very nearly so. 
Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash are the elements of fertility with 
which we have to keep the soil supplied, but before we do so the condi¬ 
tion of the soil must be rendered suitable for it. This fact cannot be 
too strongly enforced, pointing, as it does, unmistakeably to a clear saving 
upon the wasteful outlay upon manures which has so long been the bane 
■of farmers. I was once asked to inspect a field of Wheat to which a 
dressing of forty cartloads of farmyard manure per acre had been applied. 
Notwithstanding this heavy dressing of manure the growth of the Wheat 
was most unsatisfactory ; it was backward, stunted, and yellow, and the 
worthy farmer was fairly puzzled. My inspection of the soil brought 
to light the important fact that though firm enough to the tread, it was 
literally water-logged, and I had to explain that soil kept constantly in 
a saturated condition by water arising from the subsoil by capillary 
attraction, is virtually closed to the action of the air ; its temperature is 
consequently always so low that though the roots of plants may 
exist, they cannot thrive in it, and to apply manure to such soil is 
clearly a waste of labour, time, and money. 
Turning now to manures, I will take first of all muck, or farmyard 
manure, as being that in general use, and with the nature of which all 
■of us are more or less acquainted. It may, however, be as well to 
remind you that a ton of farmyard manure contains 9 to 15 lbs. of 
nitrogen, 9 to 15 lbs. of potash, 4 to 9 lbs. of phosphoric acid, and 75 per 
cent, of water ; the difference in quantity of the manurial constituents 
arising from the difference in the age of the animals and of the quality 
■of the food given them. The chief merit of such manure is that it con¬ 
tains all the necessary elements of plant food ; it may therefore be used 
without risk of harm, and with a feeling of certainty that some good 
will follow its application to the soil. I maintain, however, that such 
practice is vague, careless, slovenl} r , and wasteful. 1 go farther, and 
assert positively that the manufacture of farmyard manure is a costly 
and extravagant process for which there can be no justification. See 
what it involves ! The breeding or purchase of cattle, the free use of 
straw for litter, the cost of attendance and food throughout winter and 
spring, loading carts and carting to the manure heap, the turning over 
and mixing of the heap, carting again and spreading upon the land, 
with a certain heavy per-centage of loss of ammonia, to say nothing of 
the risk of losses among cattle, and a slow return, if any, upon the outlay 
incurred in the purchase of beasts, especially if they be Irish. Some 
muck there always must be at every homestead, but I would restrict 
the manufacture of it to the quantity necessary for root culture, but 
even then it should be used in combination with artificial manure. 
Farm} ard manure so combined in root culture is of especial value from 
the large per-centage of moisture it contains, for if only we can get our 
Mangolds and Swedes established early in the muck placed in the 
furrows in readiness for them, its moisture enables the young plants to 
grow so freely that the crop becomes fully developed, passing unscathed 
even through such a long period of drought as we have had this year. 
I could quote various authorities in support of my views here, and may 
instance Ville’s outspoken assertion that “ The farmer who uses nothing 
but farmyard manure exhausts his land. For whence comes the manure 
but from the soil ? As a fact farmyard manure does not make up for 
the loss of phosphates, lime, potash, and nitrogenous matter which it 
had to submit to through the carrying away of part, at any rate, of the 
crops grown on it.” In his seventh lecture he shows that no difference 
exists between chemical and farmyard manures except with regard to 
appearance and bulk, and he asks if this is the case why should we be 
condemned to produce farmyard manure at great cost and trouble if 
chemical manures can be procured more easily, adding, it is vain to 
bring forward the mechanical action of farmyard manure for the ferti¬ 
lisation of meadow land without its aid proves that this is not 
indispensable. 
I may here give an example of results arising from a trial of farm¬ 
yard manure and chemical manure in my own practice. A large piece 
t f permanent pasture held in reserve for hay was divided by a road into 
two equal parts, alike in every important respect, and I resolved to try 
the effect of muck on one half and chemical manure on the other. The 
farmyard manure at the rate of thirty cartloads per acre was applied in 
autumn towards the end of October ; its effect was soon visible, the 
herbage assuming a lively green hue and making growth while the 
weather was mild and open, so that it presented a striking contrast to 
the brown stunted appearance of the other half. In the following 
February this part was dressed with chemical manure, consisting of half 
cwt. nitrate of potash, three-quarter cwt. nitrate of soda, half cwt. mineral 
superphosphate, and half cwt. steamed bone flour per acre, procured 
separately from a reliable source and mixed at the farm. The effect of 
this dressing was remarkable ; the herbage starting into growth quickly 
soon took the lead of the other, eventually yielding a crop of hay twice 
the bulk of that obtained from the farmyard manure. 
Subsequently the use of muck was discontinued altogether on the 
hay pastures, and the effect of a regular annual dressing of the chemical 
manures was a steady improvement in the whole of the pasture, which 
so far as the hay crop was concerned was very little, if at all, affected 
by drought, for the application of the manure by the end of February 
or early in March ensured an early strong growth and a full crop of 
hay. Experience has shown the importance of this early dressing, for 
if it is not used till April a month’s growth may be lost, apart from the 
risk of drought and subsequent waste of manure. 
A comparison of the cost of the manures used in my experiment was 
equally in favour of the chemical manures, which cost only 23s or 24s. 
per acre, the additional outlay involved in the mixing and sowing being 
a mere trifle. The farmyard manure at 3s. per load represents an outlay 
of 90s. per acre, to which a considerable additional sum must be added 
for carting and spreading. To the popular but erroneous idea that the 
effect of chemical manures is of an exhaustive rather than permanent 
character, I am bound to say after many years of experience, that if 
rightly used in well balanced proportions the effect is entirely satisfac¬ 
tory, a gradual but marked improvement being visible in the poorest 
soil. As an example of this I may mention another case in my own 
practice. I once had a small seven-acre meadow on the top of a hill, and 
some 300 feet above the homestead of a small Sussex farm. This 
meadow, from its peculiar position, had probably never had a manure 
cart upon it, and when it came into my hands the pasture was so poor as 
to be worthless. Here was quite a unique opportunity for testing the 
effect of chemical manures, and I gladly took advantage of it. The same 
mixture of 2^ cwt. per acre of phosphates, potash, and nitrogen was 
applied with satisfactory results in the first year ; it was continued every 
February, and eventually the yield of hay from this meadow was fully 
2 tons per acre. Now, this was a poor, thin, silicious soil, but I have 
found the same mixture of manures answer equally well in the 
calcareous soil of this county. I am not alone in this, and may mention 
that the Rev. B. Porteus Oakes had the mixture applied to a piece of 
young permanent pasture at Hawkedon Rectory in the spring of this 
year, with such satisfactory results that he intends having it used upon 
the whole of his meadows next season. 
It should be mentioned here that pure home-mixed chemical manures 
generally (in the proportions given in the prescriptions of Professor 
Jamieson, issued by him for the guidance of the Association under his 
able management), have been used by myself on the poor thin soil of the 
Hastings sand formation, and also extensively in this county, on light 
soil at Nowton, mixed soil at Wyverstone, and heavy soil at Stanning- 
field, Depden, and Thurlow. Avoiding tedious details, I may usefully 
add that the effect of the manures upon all the ordinary corn and root 
crops has in every instance been entirely satisfactory, and I am confi¬ 
dent that without such aid I should have failed in my efforts to store 
with fertility the poor land which came under my care in 1885. 
(To be continued). 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 61° 82' 40" N.; Lon*. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
in the Day. 
P 
4 
« 
1887. 
Nov. <fc Dec. 
• O Cj 
11““ 
Hydrome¬ 
ter. 
p . 
o-a 
33 a 
or 1 
£5= 
So 
3 £ 
SO-M 
0) « r-t 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Sunday.27 
Monday.28 
Tuesday .... 29 
Wednesday.. 39 
Thursday.... 1 
Friday . 2 
Saturday .... 3 
Inches. 
29.730 
30.008 
29.600 
29.856 
30.232 
30.497 
30.231 
deg. 
497 
44 9 
39.8 
334 
430 
44.4 
44.L 
deg. 
4922 
42.9 
39.4 
33.2 
42.4 
44.0 
42 4 
s.w. 
s. 
N. 
N. 
S.W. 
S.w. 
s.w. 
ded. 
41.2 
41.7 
41.7 
41.2 
40 2 
40 8 
41.6 
ded- 
51.6 
51.3 
43.7 
43.4 
49 8 
49.3 
47.4 
ded. 
47.9 
35.8 
38.9 
322 
32 8 
42.7 
43.0 
ded. 
65.7 
65.6 
49.4 
61.2 
54.1 
61.2 
52.6 
deg. 
45.2 
29.5 
38.9 
27.4 
28.0 
40.8 
38.7 
In. 
0 032 
0.331 
0.031 
30.033 
43.0 
41.9 ' — | 41.2 
48.1 | 39.0 
685 
35.5 | 0.391 
REMARKS. 
27th.—Fair till 8 50 A.M.; a sharp shower with squall fr m 9 to 9 20 A.M., then fair; flu 
and bright after 11 A.M. 
28th.—Fine, but rather foggy early, bright morning; some sunshine in the afternoon, 
but slightly foggy ; heavy rain at nigh'. 
29th.—Overcast all day; showers from 4 to 4.80 P.M.; fine and bright evening and 
night. 
30th.—Cloudy early ; fine bright day. 
1st.—Dull and misty morning; bright for an hour or two in the morning and in the 
evening; warmer throughout. 
2nd.—Cloudy early; bright warm day. 
3rd.—Fine, and still warm. 
A pleasant winter week, with a good deal of sunshine. Temperature rather more 
than 1“ above the average, and 5» above that of the preceding week.—G. J. SYMONS. 
