458 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Nov., 1901. 
Besides farmyard manure, there are several kinds of artificial manures which 
are valuable, not only for the plant food they supply, but also on account of 
the quantity of it furnished in a small bulk of material. These manures act very 
quickly, and great care is required in applying them, because they are meant 
not so much to manure the land as to feed the crop. Especially is this the case 
with those artificial fertilisers which contain potash, phosphatic, or nitrogenous 
ingredients. Some contain only one, and, according to the name of that one, 
they are called potash, phosphatic, or nitrogenous manure. 
One thing should be borne in mind, and that is that there must be no 
wasteful application of such manures, because whatever the plants do not use 
is totally lost. A nitrogenous manure, such as nitrate of soda, should not be 
applied until the plants are actually asking for it, because, if they are not ready 
to take it up, it is washed away by the first rains. 
Phosphates and potash manures, such as sulphate of potash, superphosphate 
of lime, basic slag (Thomas’ phosphate), &c., may be applied when sowing the 
seed, as they are retained by fertile soils, which will to some extent also retain 
sulphate of ammonia. 
Peruvian Guano is an instance of a manure containing more than one 
ingredient of plant food. It contains a quantity of ammonia, nitrogen, and 
potash. It is the excrement of birds, and was formerly found in vast 
quantities on some islands (the Chinchas) off the coast of Peru. 
Among other artificials may be named— 
Fisn Guano, containing ammonia and phosphate of lime. 
Boye Mrat.—Ammonia, nitrogen, and phosphate. 
Basrc Sraa contains phosphoric acid. 
Nirrare or Sopa is a most valuable fertiliser, very quick in its effect on 
plants, because the nitrogen it contains is very soluble in water, and is at onee 
seized on by the plant. Its action has been described as much the same asa dose 
of smelling salts or a glass of spirits to a fainting person, and in the same way 
as too much spirits is injurious to a human being, so too much nitrate is 
mjurious to the soil by exhausting it, but as it is only of value in an already 
fertile soil, containing all other needful plant food, this idea is incorrect. 
It is very useful as a top dressing to growing crops. 
Surpuare or AmMonra is very soluble in water. It is rich in nitrogen, 
and may be used for all purposes to which nitrate of soda is applied. 
Other manures are Driep Broop from slaughter-houses and meatworks ; 
Hoors and Horns: these are all nitrogenous manures, and, as they are almost 
insoluble in water, they give up their nitrogen very slowly in the soil. Soot 
also contains ammonia. 
CurorrpeE or Soprum, or common salt, is useful in preventing the too rank 
growth of wheat crops. It is also of benefit to cabbage and mangel crops. 
Gypsum, or sulphate of lime, is suited to crops demanding much sulphur, 
such as turnips and clover. There is one valuable property possessed by 
gypsum. 1 told you about volatile gases in farmyard manure. Now, if you 
scatter gypsum on the manure heap it absorbs the ammonia, and thus prevents 
its loss. 
As this lesson is already too long, we will bring it toa close by looking back 
to see what you have learned in it. You have been given several apparently hard 
names of artificial manures, but if you examine them carefully you will see that 
in reality you have only four ingredients which they contain. These are: 
Nrrrocen, Porasu, Puospnortc Actp, and Ammonia. Oxygen, hydrogen, 
and carbonic acid you already know all about. ‘ 
The main object of this lesson was to teach you how to bring an exhausted 
soil into a condition of fertility, but as we started on the method of manuring 
I thought it better to describe the various manures at once, and to take the 
subjects of fallowing and rotation in the next two lessons. 
