April 28,188/. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AXD COTTAGE GARDENER. 
339 
Mr. J. Douglas following in each case ; but for twelve species of Primulas 
te was first with well-gtown plants of vil.osa, pubsscens, nivea, marginata 
ca ulea, denticulata. ro j ea, rerticillata, japonici, obconica, amccna liLcina, 
and intermedia. Mr. 8. Barlow was awarded fiist honours for six species of 
Primulas—denticulata, obconica, intermedia, rosea, viscosa and nivalis. 
The Turner Memorial priz s offered for six Auricu'as only brought three 
competitors, Mr. W. Bolton winning the premier position with Rev. F. D. 
Horner, Mrs. Douglas, Pr nee cf Greens, Lancashire Hero, Reliance, and 
John Simouite, all excellent plants, the first uamed variety having a truss of 
nine pips. Messrs. P. Henwood and C. Phillips were s cond and third. 
After the judging was completed a luncheon w as held in the Royal Albert 
Hall, which was wen attended by exhibitors and their friends, Mr. S. Barlow 
presiding. 
SILICA IX SOILS—ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 
Mr. Gilmour does me the honour of a friendly criticism of my 
article on soils. It is a pleasure to learn that land can be kept up to 
the mark or improved by means of artificial manure alone. “ Clay land 
in Herts,” states Mr. Gilmour, “has been growing corn, crop after crop, 
and the soil is now richer and in a better state to produce corn than it 
was the first year of the experiment.” This on the indisputable 
testimony of Dr. Voeleker, clinching the argument of the same eminent 
authority, that “ the restoration of silica need not trouble us, as there is 
not a single instance on record of silica, even in a soluble form, being 
applied to the land with the slightest advantage to Wheat crops.” 
*• Silica is abundant in all soils,” quotes Mr. Gilmour from Johnstone. 
What is the value to the current crop of the 72, 69, and 77 per cent, of 
silica as shown by the three analyses of soil from clay pastures ? It 
forms “nearly two-thirds of the total amount of mineral matter in the 
grain and straw of Wheat, and of which there is an ample supply in 
almost every soil. Surely it is not taken from the insoluble 72, 69, and 
77 per cent, of silica 1 In an analysis of clay soil Dr. Voeleker gives 
84 per cent, of insoluble silica and 1A per cent, of soluble silica. This 
latter certainly constitutes part of that found in the current crop, and 
as it goes off the land and is not returned to it on the principle acted 
upon by the gentleman referred to by Mr. Gilmour, whence I ask 
does the “ crop after crop ” of Wheat draw its supplies of silica ? From 
the soil ? If so. is it not had at the certain diminution and ultimate 
exhaustion of the supply 1 What is the amount of silicates returned to 
the soil by twelve or twenty cartloads of dung per r.cre? A load of 
straw or hay (18 cvvt.) contains, assuming it were reduced to ash, 
mineral matter, two-thirds of which is silica ; but it is not reduced by 
such a process, rather it is converted into manure enriched as an aliment 
for plants whilst contributing to the comfort and support of animal life. 
Its silicates are restored to the soil intact together with a large amount 
of increased silieious matter, and, what is of equal moment, an addition 
uf acids so essential to providing available silica for succeeding crops. 
The application of sand to clay soil is decidedly advantageous, and 
though we may not be able to know more of its action than can be 
referred to as mechanical any more than we know of the action of lime, 
yet it is known to act beneficially. Compare the silicates available in 
twelve loads of farmyard manure to those in the 2 to 4 cwt. of artificial 
manure per acre, which, in very rare instances, contain as little as 5 per 
•cent, and not infrequently 10 to 20 per cent, of sand. 
What is the value, if any, of silicates to clay soil ? Because in 
•manure the sil'ci is available for strengthening the stem, to give 
■consistency to the grain. The very texture of the clay soil is against 
the solubility of its silica, and the manure presents not only the need¬ 
ful silicates in proportion to the enrichment, but affords the agents 
or bases by w'hich it is made available for the future. Granted the 
••oil contains an inexhaustible supply of silica, what is its value whilst 
it remains inert ! I do not doubt that a Voeleker can cause land to 
produce Wheat or any other crop by means of artificial manures alone, 
but I contend that the application of artificials upon the lines that 
obtain, in nine cases out of ten, is a sheer waste of resource, and has 
contributed in no small measure to the present depression. It is a 
matter of fact that the land produces less than it did before the 
advent of artificials, which may be dated from the proposing in 1834 
of free trade in corn. The principle acted u.on from that period was 
the application of artificial in addition to the farmyard manure so as to 
meet the demand of the starving masses by an increased production of 
the staff of life. So futile was the endeavour that in 1843 “ agricultural 
products were becoming less profitable in consequence of the alarm of 
producers, who seemed unable to bestir themselves to meet the competi¬ 
tion which they dreaded from foreign grain.” Passing the Corn Law 
Repeal Act and the Potato famine— i.e., the reaction—gave an impetus 
to horticulture and agriculture in 1851, and both prospered up to 1866, 
which was a year of depression consequent on the disastrous con¬ 
sequences of rinderpest, which broke out in June 1865. In 1867 the 
harvest was bad. corn dear ; 1870 and 1871 were marked by good 
harvests, 1872 being a year of storms and rains, the Potato crop failed 
in Ireland in 1879, season inclement, and a disappointing harvest. What 
•of those things ! I may be asked. Just this, Up to 1865 the land was well 
managed, abundance of stock meant plenty of manure, and this proved 
*o profitable that the farmer invested in artificials to an extent quite 
■equal to what is now practised without any manure calculated to add 
to the staple of the soil in any appreciable degree. Now all is 
•changed, farmyard manure is at a discount, artificials along with 
surface scratching are apologies for the dearness and independence of 
laltour, with the unremunerative prices and sorry crops, alias artificials 
"ave labour, and deep cultivation is costly ; the fact is the regime is pre- 
•emiuently superficial. 
As a set-off to Mr. Gilmour's overwhelming example of corn, crop 
after crop being raised without any impoverishment of the soil, I may 
explain that I am practising in Herts. To the south is an adjoining 
farm of about 200 acres, all grass land, all mown year after year, and 
the hay sent to the metropolis. There is a peculiarity about these 
fields. They are manured in alternate years. Gross rank manure is 
used, so rough that the straw raked off resembles “ cocks,” of which use 
is made for the stack foundations. Now the year of manuring the hay 
crop is marked by increased length and strength of herbage. The 
soluble silicates have done something, but the ammonia much more, as 
the impetus given to the roots causes them to render good account of 
the insoluble silica, the unmanured crop being marked by a much 
shorter and thicker plant, with a very much larger per-centage of seed, 
and consequently of a much higher nutritive value. The one is good 
horse hay, the other is a capital cow and sheep hay, which means milk, 
butter, beef, and mutton—and money. The first brings 60s. to 70s. per 
load, the second 75s. to 84s., at home ; in fact, we have a load per week 
delivered at 75s. The crop per acre averages two loads. It pays to 
bring the manure and cart it two miles from the nearest railway station 
—yea, it answers to cart it sixteen miles. 
Westward is a farm of 800 acres, over 400 acres of permanent pas¬ 
ture, the rest under alternate husbandry. Northward is another of 
700 acres, most grass. This gentleman also cultivates three other farms, 
and on none of these is a lithe of the manure used (».e., value) artificial. 
Now these are very successful cultivators. My south neighbour owns a 
farm larger than the one rented ; the west one has saved, report says, 
£30,000, and owns real estate bringing in £100 per annum, and our 
north friend has so prospered that three farms have been stocked ready 
for his sons’ acceptance whenever they are disposed to settle. The 
latter gentleman told me only the other day that the stock he had last 
Lady-day twelve months were now worth less by £ 1000, which meant 
loss of value for rent paid, lo-s of keep, loss of recouping money paid 
for attendance, and, our friend emphasised, “ rates.” 
Now these gentlemen are staunch believers in farmyard manure. 
The land has been well cultivated in time past, and is now as far as the 
times admit. There is virtue in the land, simply because it is there and 
abides so as to enable its occupiers to pass that unfortunate ordeal. 
The apology of 2 to 4 cwt. of artificials for twelve to twenty cartloads 
of manure marks the difference between seeking or not seeking the pro¬ 
tection of the Bankruptcy Court. It is proof of the value of silicates in 
farmyard manure restored to the clay soil of Herts, a permanent 
improvement instead of the uncertain one-crop value of artificials. 
There is one remarkable fact in connection with the 800 and 700 acre 
farms—viz., in their being acquired out of the profits of guano. The 
land came by the next best—the nearest approach to farmyard manure, 
and has been kept fertile by farmyard manure and bones, Ac., treasures 
that are never so valuable as in depression, as land well managed has 
more heart in it on occasion, a dressing of lime being electrical. 
The hay land of Herts and the vegetable producing soil of Beds and 
Hunts is rendered fertile only by farmyard manure, bone, and soot (Dr. 
Voeleker gives 4 per cent, of soluble silica in soot, with 4 per cent, of 
insoluble silieious matter) ; they contain more soluble silica than any 
artificial, and I contend that it is that solubility of inorganic matter 
in combination with the elements that tend to render that in the 
soil soluble which gives them their pre-eminence as manures. 
Mr. Gilmour looks forward to the production of Roses and other 
crops by means of artificial manures, which I think hardly in accord 
with his previous instructions, who has used “ muck ” to an extent scarcely 
admitting of its being buried. Now I wish to ask Mr. Gilmour if he 
considers ground that has been made very fertile by farmyard manure 
is a fit and fair example on which to try artificials .’ Why did not Mr. 
Gilmour commence his experiments on ordinary soils ? How are we to 
know what part of the value of the artificials is to be attri¬ 
buted to them, and how much of it is due to the previous making of the 
base by farmyard manure .’ It. seems to me an exceedingly one-sided 
experiment. His ground, if 1 have followed him rightly, is very rich, 
too rich in fact for any but the production of superlatives, “whether for 
the gratification of our mental or physical appetites.” It is full of 
humus and full of bacteria or minute organisms,on the activity of which 
depends the availability of the aliment as food for plants, and the use 
of artificials will increase that activity. For instance, lime will enable the 
bacteria to convert the humus into nitrate of lime, but there is no value 
in the artificial other than for the base on which it acts or provides. If 
your correspondent means that I quite agree with him, for even farm¬ 
yard manure is enhanced in value when augmented by a judicious pro¬ 
portion of artificials, but I do not for one moment entertain the view 
that ground is to be “ kept up to the mark or improved by means of 
artificial manures alone,” upon the lines that at present mark their 
application. What gardener or farmer before applying artificials has an 
analysis made of the soil by a competent authority, and with a “full 
knowledge of the constituents of the plants and flowers” wished culti¬ 
vated is guided in the selection ? Really Mr. Gilmour hits the weak 
point in the application of artificials, for upon what system or principle 
are they applied ? Some from containing a little of most things or sub¬ 
stances required by plants can hardly be used wrongly, but many soils 
are not benefited, and in many cases the cultivator is little profited. 
If there is anything in the land artificials afford a ready means of 
abstracting it. They “ draw ” the soil, at least the crop does, and if it 
go off and is not returned in kind it gets poorer by degrees, and would 
ultimately become sterile only for the enriching influence of the atmo¬ 
spheric products brought down to it by rain, Ac. 
