16 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r July 5, 1888. 
forward and robust. Imperfect, or rather unsatisfactory results 
have, in some instances, followed the application of manures in 
April at Dyson’s Wood, and we hope Mr. Martin J. Sutton may 
be induced to try the effects of an earlier application. 
Whether nitrogen is applied in the form of nitrate of soda or 
sulphate of ammonia, we would use it early, in combination with 
well-balanced proportions of muriate of potash, steamed bone flour, 
and mineral superphosphate. Experience has shown that nitro¬ 
genous and mineral manures should be well mixed, and the mixture 
be used by the end of February. There need be no fear of a loss 
■of nitrogen, for the roots of a well-knit pasture permeate the soil 
■so closely as to prevent this, and above all things we require an 
■early robust growth if we would have a full crop of hay. 
Upon the old pasture at Dyson’s Wood the plot dressed last 
year with farmyard manure at the rate of 10 tons per acre has 
decidedly the best crop this year, and the advocates of muck were 
jubilant at this triumph, as we think we heard it termed. But was 
it not a hollow victory of muck over chemical manures ? This 
matter after all resolves itself into a question of profit and loss, and 
we proved for our own guidance long ago that the advantage is 
very much on the side of the chemical manures. The cost of a ton 
of muck is very seldom ascertained with any approach to accuracy. 
Here the price given is 63 . per ton, but we question if that amount 
shows its real cost. In the last number of the Journal of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England we have a series of elaborate 
calculations of the cost of fattening bullocks, and the cost of the 
manure per ton at Sir J. B. Lawes’ experiments at Woburn, which 
go to prove that the average cost of manure obtained in this way 
actually amounts to £1 9s. 8 d. per ton! “Dung,” the writer 
very justly observes, “is merely what is added to the straw. If 
one waters one ton of straw, and does nothing else but let it lie 
about for a time, something like 4 tons of mere wet straw-dung 
may be obtained. The manurial value of a ton of straw is estimated 
at about 10 s., therefore four tons of merely wetted straw is only 
worth 2s. (Id. a ton as dung. On the other hand, if a ton of straw 
be used as litter for twenty weeks for a fattening bullock receiving 
about 17 lbs. per day of cake, besides Clover, hay, and roots, the 
original ton of straw has most costly additions made to it.” No 
doubt the muck used at Dyson's Wood had been manufactured as 
carefully as possible, but the ordinary process of making it in open 
yards and heaps is most extravagant, for by the time the muck is 
applied to the land its most essential properties have vanished in 
the air in the form of gas set free by fermentation. It is all very 
well to talk of the kindly influence of humus ; the sentiment sounds 
—well, like a drum, for depend upon it there is very little in it. We 
had to take a large quantity of muck in valuation at a farm which 
fell in last Michaelma§. The muck has been used side by side with 
chemical manure, and the comparative value of the two can be seen 
■at a glance, the dark green hue and vigorous growth of the crop 
treated with chemical manure affording a remarkable contrast to 
the weakly growth and pallid hue of that under muck, which in 
this instance contains little besides humus, as it had been the 
custom of the farmer from whom it was purchased to trample down 
all his Wheat straw in the yards with horses and a few store 
bullocks. 
If the experiments tend to show which are the best manures to 
be used for pasture they will do good service as affording a basis 
upon which farmers may make calculations. But in turning the 
results to practical account due weight must be given to local 
peculiarities of soil and climate, and, too, the residue of manure 
■left in the soil in autumn may only be available for next year's 
crop, according to the weather which prevails during winter. In 
the comparatively dry weather of recent winters the soil has not 
been washed as it is in a wet winter when, as Sir J. B. Lawes tells 
u«, so much nitrogen passes away with the drainage water. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
As we write this note the weather continues unsettled, and showers 
of rain have been 90 frequent that roots, corn, and green crops have all 
derived much benefit from them. In several instances we have seen 
Mangolds with about a three-quarter plant from early growth, where 
the rain has caused the remainder of the seed to germinate, and although 
the plant from this is late it has been left to fill up vacant spaces, but 
the roots will not be so large as those which grew earlier. 
Mowing grass for hay has been kept somewhat in abeyance while 
the weather continued so unsettled, but the time has now come for this 
work to be done. Our remarks have in this matter somewhat of a 
local bearing, as we are aware that hay-making has been in hand for 
the past week or two in the south midland counties. If the weather 
continues unsettled due care must be taken to avoid having the hay 
much “washed” in the making. This is managed by putting in cocks as 
soon as it is ab mt half harvested, then by the exercise of watchfulness 
it may be shaken out as opportunities occur in rows, and be kept 
moved by passing the tedding machine along each row, again putting 
it in cocks if the weather is doubtful. Extra precaution should be 
taken in a wet summer to prevent overheating in the hayricks. We 
manage this perfectly in a very primitive manner by making one or 
more air shafts in each rick to admit of a free escape of vapour by 
stuffing a sack with straw, building up the hay around it, and gradu¬ 
ally drawing it to the top of the rick as the work goes on. Each even¬ 
ing before the men leave the work the stuffed sack is withdrawn from 
the shaft so as to allow the hot vapour to escape freely during the 
night. If hay can be made it is altogether preferable to any other 
food for cows and cattle, but if not, then it is well to have recourse to 
making silage, which can be done as easily in damp unsettled weather 
as in fine, provided the necessary amount of pressure can be applied 
to stack or pit. For farms generally it may prove to answer best to 
make a certain quantity of both hay and silage, because hay can 
always be sold if there is a surplus quantity on hand, and the silage be 
turned to account for home consumption. Where a pit silo is provided 
there is no doubt that chaffed silage of Maize, Sorghum, or other coarse 
herbage, affords an invaluable supply of nourishing food for winter 
use. 
Dr. Voelcker ox Manures. —At D^vson’s Wood, on the occasion 
of inspecting the experiments above referred to, Dr. Voelcker, in reply 
to several speakers, said there were many problems yet to be worked 
out—one being the value of earlier application of certain manures as 
suggested by Mr. Wright. Mr. Sutton’s experiments had been very 
useful to him personally. From his general experience he should 
certainly prefer a dressing of dissolved bones to one of steamed or 
boiled bones ; and where it could be had farmyard manure was of the 
utmost advantage to grass lands, but it was not necessarily always the 
best, owing to variations in soils. To put the whole thing in a nutshell, 
he should advise chemical manures for e ‘real and root crops, and farm¬ 
yard manure where it could be obtained for permanent grass crops, if 
the manure were properly made under cover. For temporary pastures, 
and these alone, he should advise the use of such things as nitrate of 
soda, but it must be used with due caution. Farmyard manure was 
especially valuable in giving staple to a soil, and to put nitrate of soda 
on a poor soil was not fair. They should use chemical manures for 
what they took out, when they had other necessary ingredients in the 
land already, and not to enrich or impoverish the soil. The most 
economical application of farmyard manure was certainly to land which 
was deficient in humus, or worked badly mechanically. If they once 
got the soil into organic condition they might use chemical manures 
for corn and root crops, and also on grass to a limited extent. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lit. 51° 82' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
& Hygrome- 
a . 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
a 
1888. 
82* £ ter. 
|~8 
perature. 
Temperature 
S 
June. 
In 
Ou 
®*- * | Dry. Wet. 
Cj 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches, deg deg. 
deg. 
deff. 
deg. 
deer. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday . 
24 
3'\013 | IS 9 57.1 
E. 
57 l 
77 9 
52.2 
1149 
51 2 
_ 
Monday. 
25 
3<> O'’4 75 0 (58 5 
N. 
58.4 
84 7 
59 2 
125.5 
55 4 
0.040 
Tuesdav .. 
2(5 
29 8(7 <54 5 ! 0 5.2 
18.H\ 
60.3 
75 8 
HI 3 
104.2 
57.0 
0.601 
Wednesday. 
27 
29.766 63 4 J 59(5 
S.E. 
60.2 
68 4 
57 0 
I'd.2 
5(8 
0 302 
Thursday... 
28 
29.828 f 9 9 54 9 
S. 
69 5 
67 9 
54 9 
113.3 
53.2 
0.04; 
Friday . 
29.570 01.1 54 8 
w. 
.'•8 7 
68.1 
5 - 9 
118 1 
4*.t 
0.051 
Saturday ... 
80 
29.800 ] 55.7 i 51 2 
N. 
68.5 
64.8 
49 8 
1L0.7 
45.2 
— 
29.785 62.7 I 1 8 5 
59.0 
72.5 
55.4 
112.6 
52.7 
1.037 
REMARKS. 
24ti. -Heavy rain in the small hours;* damp and very oppressive morning; fine and hot 
afternoon 
25th.-Fine and very hot. but frequently cloudv. 
26tti.—Cloudy early ; wet from 8 a.M. ti'l nearly noon; high yell >w fog for a short, time at 
noon, after which it cleared, and there was some sunshine iu the afternoon; 
thunder and lightning all the evening and night with heavy storms of raiu 
27th —Cloudy m rrning, wet afternoon an t night. 
28ih.—Fine and generally bright iu the morning; thunderstorm between 2 P.M.and3 P.M.; 
then fair again. 
20th.- Cool and frequently cloud v, with showers in the morning and In the evening. 
30th. - Fair with occasiona' sunshine. 
This week has afforded a good il.ustratmn of the libellous “ typical English sumrne , 
three hot days and a thunderstorm” We had some heat on Sunday • Mondav, anrd 
Tuesday, and alter then it was thunder and raiu till nearly the eud tf the ivetk.— 
U. J. Symons. 
* Falling before 9 A.M. the amount was. of course, entered In last week’s table'in 
accordance with the regular rule as to rainfall measurement. 
