146  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  February  14,  1901. 
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Gardeners’ Charitable  and  Provident  Institutions, 
I - 
The  Gardeners*  Royal  Benevolent  Institution.  —  Secretary, 
Mr.  G.  J.  Ingram,  175,  Victoria  Street,  S.W. 
United  Horticultural  Benefit  and  Provident  Society. — Secretary, 
Mr.  W.  Collins,  9,  Martindale  Road,  Balham,  London,  S.W. 
Royal  Gardeners’  Orphan  Fund. — Secretary,  Mr.  Brian  Wynne, 
8,  Danes  Inn,  Strand,  London,  W.C. 
manures— What  to  Buy. 
The  retailer  of  artificial  fertilisers  is  beginning  to  make  himself 
obtrusive  at  the  country  markets,  and  reminds  us  of  the  very  pa'ent 
fact  that  in  a  few  weeks  a  considerable  quantity  of  his  wares  will  be 
needed  both  for  grain  and  root  crops.  A  great  deal  of  manure  that  is 
put  on  the  market  is  retailed  at  prices  far  above  its  value,  though 
there  is  now  little  of  the  almost  worthless  rubbish  which  was  so 
common  twenty  years  ago. 
The  spread  of  scientific  knowledge  amongst  farmers  and  the 
cheapening  of  facilities  for  the  analysing  of  purchased  manures  have 
almost  d  iven  these  cheap  and  nasty  mixtures  off  the  market.  But 
there  is  still  a  tendency  for  faimers,  e-pecially  the  less  literate  amongst 
them,  to  spend  their  money  on  mixtures  with  high-sounding  names 
and  with  too  great  a  faith  in  the  persuasive  eloquence  of  the  salesman 
who  purveys  than. 
One  reason  why  so  many  farmers  buy  mixtures  is  that  they  do  not 
care  tor  the  trouble  of  mixing,  and  perhaps  are  also  a  little  hazy  as  to 
what  they  ought  to  mix.  They  are  also  strongly  imbued  with  an 
idea,  very  naturally  fostered  by  the  merchant,  that  he  can  mix  the 
manures  more  effectually  aud  at  less  cost  than  they  can.  That  is 
so,  and  many  up-to-date  farmers  are  now  buying  their  manures  in 
their  several  integral  forms  and  having  them  mixed  by  the  manu¬ 
facturer  or  merchant  just  before  delivers.  This  is  a  very  diffaent 
thing  from  buying  the  manure  as  a  mixture,  and  with  no  guarantee 
as  to  the  nature  of  its  component  parts.  A  charge  is  made  for  the 
mixing,  but  it  is  a  trifl  ng  one  and  very  small  by  comparison  with 
the  profit  taken  by  the  manuf  cturer  outj  of  the  pateDt  manures 
which  he  has  found  the  brains  to  devise. 
Another  strong  argument  in  favour  of  farmers  purchasing  their 
own  mixtures  is  the  exceedingly  great  variety  of  soils  which  are  met 
with,  as  also  is  the  difference  in  their  various  states  of  fertility.  A 
farmer  should  know  better  than  any  manure  merchant  what  his  own 
land  requires,  and  should  be  ab  e  to  write  his  own  prescriptions  for  the 
merchant  to  make  up.  What  he  requires  in  larger  or  smaller  proportions 
are  nitrogen,  phosphate  of  lime,  and  potash.  These  are  practically 
the  only  useful  constituents  of  manures,  and  they  are  found  in  all 
mixtures  that  are  of  any  value  for  the  growth  of  plant  life. 
Commercially  nitrate  of  soda  and  sulphate  of  ammonia  are  the  two 
available  forms  of  nitrogen.  Nitrate  of  potash  is  too  dear,  muriate  of 
ammonia  is  not  a  desirable  form,  as  we  believe  it  to  be  deleterious  to 
crops,  and  the  nitrogen  present  in  bones  is  both  expensive  and  small 
in  quantity.  Phosphate  of  lime  is  chiefly  derived  from  superphosphate, 
which  is  made  by  dissolving  coprolites  or  “  Spanish  Rock.”  Basic 
slag  also  provides  a  cheap  form  of  phosphate  of  lime,  but  one  not  so 
readily  available  as  plant  fool  as  the  superphosphate  is.  Another 
form  is  “  Indian  bonemeal.”  Th  s,  after  being  steamed  and  the  glue 
extracted,  contains  about  60  per  cent,  of  phosphate  in  a  rather 
insoluble  form,  but  is  not  dear  at  its  present  price — viz.,  £4  5s.  per 
ton,  or  less  than  Is.  6d.  per  unit  of  the  phosphate  present,  for  this 
manure  also  contains  ahout  1^  per  cent,  of  ammonia,  which  at  nitrogen 
price  is  worth  about  10s.,  so  biinging  the  phosphate  alone  down  to 
Is.  3d.  per  unit.  The  phosphate  in  basic  slag  is  worth  Is.  per  unit, 
whilst  tnat  in  superphosphate  is  now  worth  on  the  market  nearly  2s. 
The  question,  which  of  these  different  forms  of  phosphate  to  use,  is 
one  that  annually  agitates  thousands  of  agricultural  minds. 
There  is  no  doubt — in  fact,  in  the  face  of  results  of  so  many  trials 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  superphosphate  is  the  most  tffectual  for 
temporary  purposes — i.e.,  for  one  crop  only,  and  this  rule  applies  more 
especially  to  Turnips,  and  on  all  classes  of  soils.  But  there  are  after- 
considerati  ns  to  take  into  account.  There  is  the  following  crop  of 
corn,  an  l  more  important  still  the  Clover  which  succeeds  it,  and  for 
the  well-being  of  which  an  ample  supply  of  readily  available  phosphate 
of  lime  is  absolutely  necessary. 
We  have  had  exceptional  experience  of  the  continuous  and 
exclusive  use  of  superphosphate  in  large  quantities.  The  Turnip  crop 
was  uniformly  good  ;  we  cannot  call  to  mind  a  real  failure,  and  only 
one  unsatisfactory  crop  ;  but  the  Clovers  were  very  seldom  as  good  as 
was  desired.  There  was  a  great  tendency  to  lose  root  in  winter,  and 
owing  to  the  difficulty  in  obtaining  a  good  pasture  of  Clover  it 
g  ad i  tally  became  the  custom  on  the  farm  we  are  referring  to  to 
include  a  very  large  proportion  of  Rye  Grass  in  the  seed  mixture.  In 
course  of  time  there  was  a  change  in  the  managf  m  nt,  and  there  being 
an  imp  ession  that  superphospha'e  had  been  overdone,  for  the  next 
eight  or  ten  years  steamed  bonemeal  was  used — not  altogether,  but  to 
a  considerable  extent,  in  its  place.  The  Turnips  were  no  better, 
though  they  were  apparently  on  the  average  no  worse,  but  there  was 
a  very  marked  improvement  both  in  the  grain  crops  and  the  Clovers. 
The  Barleys,  which  previously  had  been  abundant  as  to  straw, 
but  liable  to  lodge  in  wet  weather  and  ripen  prematurely  in  drought, 
bicame  muca  healthier  in  habit,  better  in  quality,  and  more 
satisfactory  as  to  yield,  whilst  the  very  marked  improvement  in  the 
she.  p  pastures  naturally  brought  about  a  corresponding  advance  in  the 
Wheat  or  Oat  crops  which  followed.  We  have  relat'd  this  from  our 
own  experience  to  show  that  super,  good  as  it  is  for  Turnips,  may  be 
overdone. 
B  isic  slag  was  used  on  the  same  farm  with  little  or  no  effect 
whatever,  but  we  have  seen  very  marke  ily  favourable  results  from 
the  use  of  10  cwt.  of  basic  on  black  peaty  soil  of  a  somewhat  sour 
character;  the  effect  on  Turnips  and  Rape  was  very  satisfactory,  but 
even  more  so  on  the  grain  crops.  Super  on  land  like  this  would  do 
well  for  the  roots  but  not  so  well  for  the  corn,  whilst  bonemeal  would 
be  of  little  benefit  to  either. 
No  d.  ubt  dissolved  bcnes  applied  in  similar  quantity  would  do  as 
well  as  bonemeal,  but  dissolved  bones  are  so  much  more  expensive  that 
we  think  there  is  no  question  which  should  be  preferr.  d.  We  have 
ourselves  seen  s  lendid  results  from  the  use  of  bonemeal  as  a  top- 
dres-ing  for  fruit  trees,  and  we  are  convinced  that  on  most  soils  and 
for  all  crops  bonemeal  is  the  safest  and  most  sati -factory,  if  not  quite 
the  cheapest,  of  the  forms  in  which  phosphate  of  lime  may  be  procured. 
We  have  more  to  say  on  this  subject,  but  we  will  defer  our  further 
remarks  until  another  week. 
Work  on  tlie  Home  Farm. 
Again  have  we  spent  a  week  with  practically  little  progress  to  show 
for  the  time.-  We  have  had  a  mixture  of  samples  of  real  British 
weather,  ringing  the  changes  between  frost  and  snow,  sunshine  and  rain, 
in  a  manner  almost  bewildering. 
Work  on  the  land  has  been  nil,  for  it  would  be  madness  either  to 
plough  or  do  anything  else  with  the  soil  in  its  present  condition.  There 
has  never  been  enough  frost  to  make  the  ground  hard,  so  the  carting 
together  of  road  scrapings  and  similar  refuse  into  a  compost  heap  and 
the  spreading  of  compost  on  grass  has  been  easy  to  accomplish,  and 
has  redeemed  the  week  from  absolute  inutility  as  regards  horse  labour. 
Winnowing  Barley  has  found  'some  occupation  for  the  men  when 
they  were  not  able  to  get  to  their  hedging  work.  The  Barley  trade 
goes  from  bad  to  worse;  the  pure  beer  agitation  seems  to  have  no 
stimulating  effect  whatever  on  the  markets,  and  if  brewers  do  not  turn 
greater  attention  to  the  consumption  of  malt  just  now  they  will  most 
certainly  not  do  so  in  the  future. 
Sheep  have  again  been  in  a  dreadful  mess,  and  the  ewes  have  been 
entirely  on  grass,  and  have  had  Turnips  brought  to  them.  They  will 
hardly  get  back  on  Turnips  now  unless  the  weather  changes  quickly, 
for  lambing  time  will  be  here  in  a  fortnight,  and  we  like  ewes  to  have 
Mangold  on  grass  for  a  week  before  that  time  comes.  As,  however, 
Turnips  are  so  plentiful,  and  the  Mangold  will  keep  and  may  come  in 
very  useful  if  we  should  have  a  dry  summer,  it  may  be  advisable  to 
keep  the  flock  on  Turnips  two  or  thiee  weeks  longer  than  usual — i.e.,  if 
weather  will  allow.  Ewes  will  lamb  satisfactorily  on  Turnips  if  the  latter 
are  sound  and  good,  and  the  lair  fairly  dry.  A  walk  to  and  from  the 
field  and  the  lambing  yard  does  more  good  than  harm  ;  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  twice  a  day  will  hurt  none  that  are  healthy,  and  the  others 
will  be  better  left  in  the  yard.  Hurdles  for  making  the  necessary  pens 
should  be  thatched  at  once  and  stacked  ready  for  use.  — ^ 
Pigs  and  pork  are  scarcer  than  ever.  Several  pigs  of  the  porket  size 
are  losing  the  use  of  their  limbs,  and  have  to  be  slaughtered  to  save 
their  bacon.  Knowing  people  attribute  this  to  overfeeding  followed  by 
a  chill.  Most  of  them  have  broken  down  just  after  being  purchased 
and  removed,  which  lends  colour  to  that  idea.  As  they  are  all  in  good 
killable  condition  the  knife  is  evidently  the  best  medicine.  Not- 
withstanding  the  winterly  weather  there  has  been  little  movement 
amongst  Potatoes,  which  is  a  boon  to  the  workwomen,  who  have  a  rough 
time  amongst  Potatoes  in  stormv  wea'her. 
