270 
JOURXAL OF HORTICULTURE AXD COTTAGE GARDENER 
{ March 29, 1888. 
notice. Yet we cannot regard anything that is a hindrance to 
progress as a trifle to be ignored, and there is one very general 
error in particular to which we desire to call attention now. 
If we were to ask, Is there a residue of any manure left in the 
■soil after the crop for which it is used is harvested or cleared oft 
the larid ? we should probably be told that there is when farm¬ 
yard manure has been used, but that artificial manure, as it is 
termed, is either exhaused by the crop or avashed out of the 
soil by heavy rains in avinter. Well ; but aam do not alav'ays get 
heavy rains in winter, and if we do ave are convinced that the 
proportion of loss in fertility is not nearly so great as is often 
supposed. In the Norfolk experiments last year upon Barley after 
Swedes, proof, clear and unmistakeable, was afforded of the exact 
proportion of unexhausted manure in the soil. The Swedes were 
manured with 4 cwts. of bone flour, 1 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia, 
and 1 cwt. of gypsum per acre, and all the roots and tops were 
drawn from the land. Of thirteen trial plots, two had no manure, 
with the remarkable result of, in one case, a yield of thirty-six 
bushels of marketable corn per acre, weighing 5G lbs. per bushel, 
and with a market value of dds. per quarter, and in the other, 
a slightly inferior yield of thirty-four bushels of head corn, 
w'eighing 54 lbs. per bushel, and worth .G4s. per quarter. 
In connection with this series of experiments we may mention 
here that where mineral manures, superphosphate and potash, were 
applied alone nothing was added to the yield over that of the un¬ 
manured plots, but the use of li cwt. nitrate of soda gave 
b bushels extra per acre, at a cost of about .Gs. Gd. per bushel. 
Muriate, of potash with 1 cwt. nitrate of soda also gave 5 bushels 
extra per acre at a cost of about 4s. per bushel. Superphosphate 
with nitrate of soda gave 9 bushels extra per acre at the low cost of 
about 2s. per bushel. The highest increase was obtained by the use 
per acre of 2 cwt. nitrate of soda, 2 cwt. superphosphate, and 1 cwt 
muriate of potash, which gave 14 bushels more Barley per acre 
than the unmanured plots. The soil of the field is light and of 
medium quality, nearly 2 feet of surface soil resting upon a sub¬ 
stratum of reddish sand. 
In another series of experiments upon Barley to test the value 
of unexhausted residue of manures applied in 188G for Mangolds, it 
was found that the residue from .G cwt. superphosphate, 4 cwt. fish 
guano, and 1 cwt. muriate of potash was fully as valuable as that 
from twenty loads of farmyard manure, the quantity of head com 
upon the former plot being 4.G-87 bushels, while upon the latter it 
was exactly 43 bushels, and the m.arket value of the corn from both 
plots was 33s. per quarter. 
A common result of such experiments is more and more proof 
of the superiority of nitrate of soda to all other forms of nitrogen. 
In the Sussex experiments, in answer to the question, “Will not 
the application of nitrate cf soda impoverish the soil and render it 
unfit for cultivation in future years ? ” it was shown by results from 
farmed-out land at Haywards Heath that without nitrogen, neithtr 
air nor water, neither the food in the soil nor the heat of the sun, 
could be utilised in producing a heavy crop, but so soon as nitrogen 
was supp’ied all these elements were healthfully utilised, and, 
being utilised, resulted in a jirofitable crop. The fact being that 
they are utilised, the farmer, if he is to farm rationally, will, in 
order to continue the process of profitable cropping, return a pro" 
portion of that profit to the soil in the form of more nitrogen 
(nitrate of soda), and he will also consider that in growing these 
heavy crops he has to add not only nitrogen, but part of those 
mineral ingredients—potash and phosphates—which former judicious 
treatment has utilised. 
Probably it is inattention to this latter point that has given rise 
to the idea that nitrogen, one of the best plant fertilisers, exhausts 
or “scourges’’ the land. That belief is supported by irrelevant 
analogy with animals, in whom stimulants p-mduce extraordinary 
results, to be followed only by corresponding depression. The 
analogy is made in forgetfulness of the fact th't.that work by an 
animal means waste of tissue permissible 11 , '' '' certain degree. 
when — if life is to continue—it must be followed by reparative 
processes ; whereas growth by a plant means no waste, but merely 
a conversion into plant matter, chiefly of air and water, with but a 
minute proportion of the soil, which serves more as a medium for 
the ramification of the roots than for the provision of mineral food, 
most of •vrhich must be provided by manure. 
The knowdedge gained by us under the Sussex experiments by 
Professor Jamieson has enabled us to boldly grapple with the ex¬ 
hausted land of farms falling upon our hand.s year after year, for 
ave know that such land requires no rest. He taught that the 
notion of rest was a bogie set up by ignorance ; that perpetual 
cropping is rational farming, which must proa^e profitable if done 
intelligently ; that towards this system advancing agriculture must 
tend, and by this system—the most profitable cultivation—^the 
agriculture of the future will be characterised. 
WOKK ON THE HOME FAHM. 
Nea-er aa-ere the resources of flockmasters put to a more s'ea^ere test 
than they are this spring. To begin with, many of them were so badly 
off for food that heavy purchases have been made for several aveeks, 
and avith the growth of the lambs a proportionate additional 
outlay avas unavoidable. A foraa'ard spring would therefore have 
been a great boon, but present prospects give promise of very little 
food upon pastures till May. Under such adverse conditions valu¬ 
able lessons in flock management may be had at farms where there is a 
really intelligent system in force. We have in our rounds of late seized 
every opportunity of calling at different farms to see what is being done, 
to compare notes with our friends, and certainly to pick up crumbs of 
knowledge. In this way much that is interesting in practice, good and 
bad, comes under our notice, ami the results of foresight and cere, or the 
reverse, are before us. On one very large farm, where the practice is 
easy-going and about as careless as it can well be, we found the flock in 
sad plight, for the ewes were so low in condition that they had hardly 
enough strength to bring forth the lambs, and the lambs were small and 
weak. The mortality among both sheep and lambs was considerable, as 
many as fourteen ewes having been lost in one day. Pleasant indeed 
was it to turn from so sad an e.xample of mismanagement to a really 
well cared for flock of some 300 ewes. Lambing was in full swing under 
most unfavourable conditions of weather, for it was blowing h.ard from 
the north-east, with the thermometer a little below freezing point, and 
snow -was falling so fine and hard as to be almost blinding from the 
force 'with which it was driven before the bitter wind. Shelter of every 
kind h.ad been turned to .aecount for the .sheep. The large .sheep-yard, 
with its lovv thatched roof shedding running rieht round it, had occu- ^ 
pants in every erib. Barms, cart and waggon lodges, were all filled with 
sheen, and even the waggons were made to afford shelter, by heaping 
straw upon them, drawing them into line, and putting high thatched 
hurdles along the ■windward side of rhem, so as not only to break off the 
wind but to afford comfortable quarters beneath the waggons for lambs 
•and .sheep. Ample supplies of chaff, roots, and corn were stored close 
by ; the ewes were strong, healthy, well-conditioned animals, and the 
crop of lambs was .satisfactory. Two hundred and fifty of the ewes had 
himbed in a fortnight, so th.at the lambing would only practically 
c.xtend over a perio.l bf three weeks. On every hand we saw ple.asing 
evidence of intelligence, energy, c.are, and thrift, and the farmer himself 
was as remarkable as his surroundings, as he walked about with us heed¬ 
less of weather, a hale sturd}’’ veteran of over threescore years and ten. 
meteokologiual observations. 
(JA.VIOKN SQUAUE. LONDON'. 
Lat. 51° 32'40''X.; L jn.^. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude. Ill feet. 
DATK. 
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REMARKS. 
IStli.—Generally bright In afterno'in, but b e k and cold tbrongbouf. 
l»lli.—(loM, bleak, and aunle'*-. S udu a .niv beua'i about 6 P. <I, and by 9 P.II. was 
half an inch deep, and <*,o itnin-d to fai . 
2nth.—Snow earlv, and tin in A..vf., the nepth at 9 A.M. beinii 2 inches; dull all day. 
2l8t.—Fine, h iaht and pie aant. and inu h warmer, 
22ml,—vS'eet stniwer about 9 A. VI.; wet morning; dull afternoon. 
2;irii.—te fr..m I a."!!, to 7 am., and alnthtiy foioiv in the morning; dark with high 
fog from Id A.M. o I .811 .V.M.,and dull and damp all day. 
24lh.—Cio..dv mnrniua ; il irk. w ih liitrh fog f om 1 * A.M. to U A.’M., necessitating gas, 
then fine and brigh' ; rain in the evening, and Hakes of snow at 9. a) P.M. 
An unsettled wint y week. Temperatu e about six degrees below theaVrrage, and 
four degrees be ow that of the, preieding week,- G, J. StMONS. 
