THE CULTIVATOR. 
June. 
176 
Experiments with Different Manures on Potatoes. 
For the purpose of furnishing an opportunity of com¬ 
paring the results obtained from experiments made in 
Great Britain, with such as have been obtained from 
similar experiments in thi3 country, of the kind above 
designated, we have put into a tabular form the more 
important items contained in a report of certain expe¬ 
riments made last season, upon a farm a few miles from 
Glasgow, -Scotland. 
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The report from which this Table has been construct¬ 
ed, does not make mention of any reservation of a plot 
for the purpose of determining the rate of produce 
without any manure. This very important point seems 
to have been neglected altogether, and the omission 
renders the whole series of experiments of much less 
value than they might have been, if the yield per 
acre without manure had been determined and re¬ 
ported. This omission in the experiments and the re¬ 
port, makes it impracticable to ascertain the absolute 
profit of any of the several applications, giving data 
merely for the determination of their relative profit, or 
for a comparison between manure and manure. As a 
substitute, though but an unsatisfactory one, for the 
omitted portion of these experiments, we have cal¬ 
culated the mean or average of the different col¬ 
umns in the Table, so as to enable any one to deter¬ 
mine at a glance , which of the several applications cost 
more or less, and gave a yield of sound or unsound po¬ 
tatoes, or a nett profit (cost of manure deducted,) above 
or below the mean of the nine experiments. 
In order to save the time and trouble of hundreds of 
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calculations by individual readers, we have reduced 
the British currency to that of the United States, at 
the rate of $5 for each j£l sterling, which, though not 
strictly accurate, is a convenient and sufficiently exact 
approximation j and have reduced the weights of the 
produce to measures, or tons and hundred-weights to 
bushels, at the rate of 58 lbs. to each bushel. In this 
form, the Table will admit of comparison with other 
reports of experiments in potato culture with greater 
ease, readiness, and satisfaction. It may be well, 
moreover, to have it understood and remembered that 
the acre in this Table is the Scotch acre, which is equal 
to 1 acre, 1 rood, and 2 poles nearly of English and 
American measure, or a little over If acre of our mea¬ 
sure. 
The experiments whose more important results are 
above tabulated, were made on ground which is de¬ 
scribed as “sharp gravelly marl/’ which had for a cen¬ 
tury or so been under a kind of four-years’ rotation— 
green crops, then barley or oats, and then two years 
in meadow,—and in 1856 were under Italian ryegrass, 
which gave three good cuttings. The seed was cut in¬ 
to sets and dusted with gypsum. Beside these rather 
unimportant items of information, there is no informa¬ 
tion given in the report of these experiments as to any 
of the details and circumstances, except what is in¬ 
cluded in one or other of the columns of the foregoing 
Table. Neither is there any attempt to draw infer¬ 
ences or lessons of any kind from the results, nor to 
make them do service in the support of any disputed 
theory or practice. Each reader is left to draw from 
the compendious report whatever inferences or deduc¬ 
tions he may think warranted by the facts. 
As all the manures applied to the several experi¬ 
mental plots contain ammonia, actual or potential, to 
a greater or less extent, the experiments now under 
notice afford very little if any light upon the most im¬ 
portant question as to the fertilizing of the soil for a 
potato crop—the question, namely, as to the compara¬ 
tive value of applications, nitrogenous and non-nitro- 
genous. The application to plot 3 contained probably 
the smallest amount of nitrogenous or ammoniaeal mat¬ 
ter ; and next to that, or perhaps lower still in its per¬ 
centage of ammonia, is the application to plot 1. The 
produce, as may be seen from the Table, is smaller 
both in quantity and value, from these two plots than 
from any other. The forms of ammoniaeal manures 
which gave the largest yield, can be seen by a glance 
at the Table ; and also those which were cheapest and 
yielded the highest net profit, at the head of which is 
Glue Waste. 
The common opinion as to the tendency of putres¬ 
cent (farm-yard) manure to favor or increase rot , is 
confirmed by these experiments. Very large doses of 
any ammoniaeal manures seem to have a similar ten¬ 
dency, as in plots 2, 7, 8 and 9. 
■-»-#-*-■ 
Chukning Milk.—A Connecticut dairyman (A. H. 
Byington of Norwalk,) thinks that more, sweeter 
and better butter is produced by churning all milk, 
than by churning the cream alone, as is usually prac¬ 
ticed in New-England. And “the buttermilk,” he 
says, “churned from milk just turned, is better for 
promoting the growth of hogs or even calves, than 
skimmed sweet milk.” This, from careful observation, 
he regards as a settled fact, and if so, worthy the at¬ 
tention of farmers. Will our dairying subscribers who 
have experimented, give us their views on the subject? 
