TALKS ON MANURES A SERIES OF FAMILIAR AND PRACTICAL TALKS BETWEEN THE AUTHOR AND THE DEACON, THE DOCTOR, AND OTHER NEIGHBORS, ON THE WHOLE SUBJECT
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o the American Farmer.-- The growth of Wheat Year after Year on the same Land, unmanured, with Farm-yard Manure, and with various Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers.
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immediately active and available. It is unquestionably true, that the same amount of nitrogen in barn-yard manure, will not produce so great an effect as its theoretical value would in
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for twenty-seven years, there has been a great loss of nitrogen. The same remarks apply to this case. No one ever advocates summer-fallowing land every other year, and sowing nothing
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d grass, root, stem, and branch, all are composed or made up of these same dozen elements. If I ask you what bread is made of, you say it is composed of the dozen elements aforesaid. I
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refreshes the plants, and fills the leaves with sap, precisely in the same way. All these fertilizing effects, however, belong to climate. It is inaccurate to associate either mulching
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and on the other. This will give you some good, rich muck, and at the same time drain your swamp. Then cut some _under-drains_ from _y_ towards the higher land at _w_, _v_, and _h_, an
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om the soil. In this way the “condition” of the soil would remain the same. If we sell _less_ than we develop, the condition of the soil will improve. By “condition,” I mean the amoun
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ed at the breweries with the “grains,” and are sold to milkmen at the same price--from 12 to 15 cents per bushel. Where their value is not known, they can, doubtless, be sometimes obta
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enting in an exposed heap for six months, it still contains about the same _percentage_ of water. When kept in the heap until August, the percentage of water is much greater. Of four t
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gen, and 30¾ lbs. of soluble mineral matter. If they buy a ton of the same manure that has been kept under cover until February, they get, nitrogen, 15 lbs.; soluble minerals, 42½ lbs.
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, and the manure becomes rapidly deteriorated in value, whilst at the same time it is diminished in weight. “21. Well-rotten dung is more readily affected by the deteriorating influen
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garden, more than two loads of the straw and corn manure. To get the same amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, you have to spend more than twice the labor in cleaning out
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imes, when comparatively dry, we use the refuse sheep bedding for the same purpose. Where the sheep barn is contiguous to the pig-pens, and when the sheep bedding can be thrown at once
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iately available. It makes it more soluble. We ferment manure for the same reason that we decompose bone-dust or mineral phosphates with sulphuric acid, and convert them into superphos
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nd in the manure.” How to keep cows tied up in the barn, and at the same time save all the urine, is one of the most difficult problems I have to deal with in the management of manur
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nd supporting 20 cows, would give us a gross return of $1,204.50. The same farm so improved as to produce 2¼ tons of hay or its equivalent, per acre--fed to 20 cows _capable of eating,
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this, his land has been growing richer and richer. And, in fact, the same is true of Mr. Geddes’ farm. It is richer land to-day than when first plowed, while there is one field that f
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80.4 ” ” ” ” Fresh solid cow-dung contains, according to the same authority, 90 per cent of water. I have frequently seen manure drawn out in the spring, that had not been de
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arch, April, May, and June, than wheat; and, consequently, to get the same amount of food, it is not necessary that the clover should have as much nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, et
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es of wheat, and as much potash as the produce from five acres of the same crop. Clover thus unquestionably removes from the land very much more mineral matter than does wheat; wheat,
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s, containing 61 lbs. of nitrogen; that is, there was very nearly the same quantity of roots and nitrogen in them, as that furnished in the soil from the brow of the hill. “The roots,
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f nitrogen per acre, that is, considerably more than was found in the same section of the soil where the clover was mown twice for hay; showing plainly, that during the ripening of the
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cre, and contained 100 lbs. of nitrogen. A few yards distance, on the same soil, where the clover was bad, the acre of roots contained only 31 lbs. of nitrogen per acre. So far, so go
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ments at Rothamsted on the Growth of Wheat, Year After Year, on the Same Land. Table 1.--Manures And Produce; 1st Season, 1843-4. Manures and Seed (Old Red Lammas) Sown Autumn 1
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f manure again in 1845?” “Precisely that, Deacon,” said I, “and this same plot has received this amount of manure every year since, up to the present time--for these same experiments
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of corn and 789 lbs. of straw, which was the increase obtained by the same amount of ammoniacal salt on 10_a_, as compared with 10_b_. “It will be observed, however, that in the forme
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monia-salts alone on plot 10_a_, gave 19¼ bushels per acre, while the same quantity of ammonia, with superphosphate in addition, gave, on plot 9_b_, 25 bushels per acre. The addition
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--“What have you here?” --“Ammonia,” said I; and at 6_b_ he asked the same question, and I replied “ammonia.” At 7_a_, the same question and the same answer. Standing between 7_b_ and
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that the next year and the year after, the salt _was_ applied at the same time as the other manures. It gave an increase of 94 lbs. of grain and 61 lbs. of straw in 1851, but the foll
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uite 29 bushels per acre, and only weighed 55 lbs. per bushel. On the same plot, the year before, with precisely the same manure, the yield was nearly 37 bushels per acre, and the weig
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e consider that this is the twentieth wheat-crop in succession on the same land, these figures are certainly remarkable. “They are so,” said the Deacon, “and what to me is the most su
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king them together in a bottle, and allowing the soil to subside, the same result was obtained. The action, therefore, was in no way referable to any physical law brought into operatio
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s in the spring assumed a rich, dark green color. I have observed the same effect where coal-ashes were spread on grass-land; and I have thought that the apparent benefit was due large
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shes Experiments on the Growth of Barley, Year After Year, on the Same Land, Without Manure, and With Different Descriptions of Manure, Hoos Field, Rothamsted, England. Tabl
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rs.] Experiments on the Growth of Barley, Year After Year, on the Same Land, Without Manure, and With Different Descriptions of Manure, Hoos Field, Rothamsted, England. Tabl
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traw. “That will do,” said the Deacon, “but I see that in 1857, this same plot, with the same manure, produced 66½ bushels of dressed grain per acre, weighing 53½ lbs. to the bushel,
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nips does not enrich land for grain crops. Turnips were grown on the same land, year after year, for ten years. The land was then plowed and sown to barley for three years. The follow
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them. In 1857, I made the following experiments on potatoes, in the same field on which the preceding experiment was made in 1852. In this case, as before, the land was a two-year-o
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n autumn, has afforded a yield of about 70 bushels per acre, when the same amount applied in spring, gave only 50 bushels. A thin coating of manure applied to winter-wheat at the time
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And such facts and experiments as we have, seem to indicate that the same is also true of Indian corn. It is, at any rate, reasonable to suppose that, as Indian corn belongs to the sa
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Plot 10, with 400 lbs. of unleached wood-ashes per acre, produces the same quantity of _sound corn_, with an extra bushel of ‘nubbins’ per acre, as plot 1, without any manure at all; a
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gave an increase of 14½ tons per acre. And the following year, on the same land, it gave an increase of 13½ tons; and the next year, on the same land, over 9 tons.” “Yes,” said I, “th
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res did any good. Ellwanger & Barry also tried them, and reported the same negative result. This was several years ago, and I do not think any similar experiments have been made since.
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e land_, $1.06. “A ton of the fresh fæces,” said the Deacon, “at the same estimate, would be worth (20 lbs. nitrogen, at 20 cents, $4; 21¾ lbs. phosphoric acid, at 12½ cents, $2.70),
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ticle.” As to whether it is better, when you can buy nitrogen at the same price in nitrate of soda as you can in sulphate of ammonia, to use the one or the other will depend on circum
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crop of wheat. And the experience of farmers everywhere tends in the same direction. England is the greatest turnip-growing country in the world, and you will find that where one farm
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e, this was to be expected, and they had expected it much sooner. The same with wheat; he expected the end would come in a few years, but they had now gone on between 30 and 40 years.
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y giving to it the food necessary to grow good grasses, sowing at the same time a small quantity of the best seeds. I further suggested that a flock of sheep should be allowed to run o
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se in the fall for wheat, on land that has been cropped with oats the same year. The manure put on for potatoes is generally estimated to enrich the land sufficient for it to produce o
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ng for, 35-168 ” the 20th Crop on Same Land, 213 ” Top-dressing for, 270 ”
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value.” “Suppose, Deacon,” said he _quotation marks as in original (same speaker)_ carbonaceous matter and water, of little or no value?” _text has question mark after close quote_
of the experiments, and shows us how effectually the preceding crop had,
in a practical point of view, reduced the plots, previously so
differently circumstanced both as to manure and produce, to something
like an uniform standard as regards their grain-producing qualities.
“Plot 2 has, as before, 14 tons of farm-yard manure, and the produce is
27¼ bushels, or between 9 and 10 bushels more than without manure of any
kind.
“On plot 10_a_, which in the previous year gave by ammoniacal salts
alone, a produce equal to that of the farm-yard manure, we have again a
similar result: for two cwts. of sulphate of ammonia has now given 1,850
lbs. of total corn, instead of 1,826 lbs., which is the produce on plot
2. The straw of the latter, is, however, slightly heavier than that by
the ammoniacal salt.
“Again, plot 5_a_, which was in the previous season _unmanured_, was
now subdivided: on one-half of it (namely, 5_a_1) we have the ashes of
wheat-straw alone, by which there is an increase of rather more than one
bushel per acre of dressed corn; on the other half (or 5_a_2) we have,
besides the straw-ashes, two cwts. of sulphate of ammonia put on as a
top-dressing: two cwts. of sulphate of ammonia have, in this case, only
increased the produce beyond that of 5_a_1 by 7⅞ bushels of corn and
768 lbs. of straw, instead of by 9¾ bushels of corn and 789 lbs. of
straw, which was the increase obtained by the same amount of ammoniacal
salt on 10_a_, as compared with 10_b_.
“It will be observed, however, that in the former case the ammoniacal
salts were top-dressed, but in the latter they were drilled at the time
of sowing the seed; and it will be remembered that in 1845 the result
was better _as to corn_ on plot 9, where the salts were sown earlier,
than on plot 10, where the top-dressing extended far into the spring. We
have had several direct instances of this kind in our experience, and we
would give it as a suggestion, in most cases applicable, that manures
for wheat, and especially ammoniacal ones, should be applied before or
at the time the seed is sown; for, although the apparent luxuriance of
the crop is greater, and the produce of straw really heavier, by spring
rather than autumn sowings of Peruvian guano and other ammoniacal
manures, yet we believe that that of the _corn_ will not be increased in
an equivalent degree. Indeed, the success of the crop undoubtedly
depends very materially on the progress of the underground growth during
the winter months; and this again, other things being equal, upon the
quantity of available nitrogenous constituents within the soil, without
a liberal provision of which, the range of the fibrous feeders of the
plant will not be such, as to take up the minerals which the soil is
competent to supply, and in such quantity as will be required during the
after progress of the plant for its healthy and favorable growth.”
These remarks are very suggestive and deserve special attention.
“The next result to be noticed,” continue Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, “is
that obtained on plot 6, now also divided into two equal portions
designated respectively 6_a_ and 6_b_. Plot No. 6 had for the crop of
1844, superphosphate of lime and the phosphate of magnesia manure, and
for that of 1845, superphosphate of lime, rape-cake, and ammoniacal
salts. For this, the third season, it was devoted to the trial of the
wheat-manure manufactured under the sanction of Professor Liebig, and
patented in this country.
“Upon plots 6_a_, four cwts. per acre of the patent wheat-manure were
used, which gave 20¼ bushels, or rather more than two bushels beyond the
produce of the unmanured plot; but as the manure contained, besides the
minerals peculiar to it, some nitrogenous compounds, giving off a very
perceptible odor of ammonia, some, at least, of the increase would be
due to that substance. On plot 6_b_, however, the further addition of
one cwt. each of sulphate and muriate of ammonia to this so-called
‘Mineral Manure,’ gives a produce of 29¼ bushels. In other words, the
addition of ammoniacal salt, to Liebig’s mineral manure has increased
the produce by very nearly 9 bushels per acre beyond that of the mineral
manure alone, whilst the increase obtained over the unmanured plot, by
14 tons of farm-yard manure, was only 9¼ bushels!
The following table gives the results of the experiments the _fourth_
year, 1846-7.
Experiments at Rothamsted on the Growth of Wheat, Year After Year,
on the Same Land.
Table IV.--Manures and Produce; 4th Season, 1846-7. Manures and Seed
(Old Red Lammas), Sown End of October, 1846.
Manures
FM Farm-yard Manure.
PG Peruvian Guano.
B-A Bone-ash.
SAc Sulphuric Acid (Sp. gr. 1-7.)
MAc Muriatic Acid.
SAm Sulphate of Ammonia.
MAm Muriate of Ammonia.
R Rice.
-----+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Manures per Acre. |
P +-------+------+--------------------+------+------+------+
l | | | Superphosphate | | | |
o | | | of Lime | | | |
t | | +------+------+------+ | | |
s | FM | PG | B-A | SAc | MAc | SAm | MAm | R |
-----+-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Tons. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. |
0 | .. | 500 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
1 | .. | .. | 200 | .. | 200 | 350 | 50 | .. |
2 | 14 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
3 | Unmanured. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| | | | | | | | |
4 | .. | .. | 200 | .. | 200 | 300 | .. | .. |
| | | | | | | | |
5a | .. | .. | 200 | 200 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
5b | .. | .. | 200 | 200 | .. | 150 | 150 | 500 |
6a | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
6b | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
7a | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
7b | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
| | | | | | | | |
8a | .. | .. | 200 | 200 | .. | 150 | 150 | 500 |
8b | .. | .. | 200 | 200 | .. | 200 | 200 | .. |
9a{1| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |2240 |
{2| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
9b | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
10a | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
10b | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
| | | | | | | | |
11a | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
11b | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
12a | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
12b | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
13a | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
13b | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
14a | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
14b | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
| | | | | | | | |
15a | .. | .. | 200 | .. | 200 | 300 | .. | 500 |
15b | .. | .. | 200 | .. | 200 | 300 | .. | 500 |
| | | | | | | | |
16a | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
16b | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
17a | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
17b | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 200 | 200 | .. |
18a | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
18b | .. | .. | 100 | 100 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
| | | | | | | | |
19 | .. | .. | 100 | .. | 100 | 300 | .. | 500 |
20 | Unmanured. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
21 }| Mixture of the residue of most of the | .. | .. |
22 }| other manures. | .. | .. |
-----+-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Produce
Wt/Bu Weight per Bushel.
OC Offal Corn.
TC Total Corn.
S&C Straw and Chaff.
TP/C&S Total Produce (Corn and Straw.)
C Corn.
TP Total Produce.
OCD Offal Corn to 100 Dressed.
C100 Corn to 100 Straw.
-----------------------------------+-----------------+-----+-----+----
| Increase per | | |
Produce per Acre, &c. | Acre By Manure. | | | P
--------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+ | | l
Dressed Corn.| | | | | | | | | | o
--------+-----+ | | | TP | | | | | | t
Qty. |Wt/Bu| OC | TC | S&C |C&S | C | S&C | TP | OCD |C100 | s
--------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Bu. Pks.|lbs. |lbs.|lbs.|lbs. |lbs.|lbs. |lbs. |lbs. | | |
30 2¾ |61.1 | 156|2031|3277 |5308| 908 |1375 |2283 | 8.2 |61.9 | 0
32 1 |61.2 | 147|2119|3735 |5854| 996 |1833 |2829 | 7.2 |56.7 | 1
29 3¾ |62.3 | 117|1981|3628 |5609| 858 |1726 |2584 | 6.2 |54.6 | 2
16 3½ |61.0 | 95|1123|1902 |3025| .. | .. | .. | 8.9 |59.0 | 3
| | | | | | | | | | |
27 1¾ |61.9 | 82|1780|2948 |4728| 657 |1046 |1703 | 4.7 |60.3 | 4
| | | | | | | | | | |
29 0 |61.8 | 130|1921|3412 |5333| 798 |1510 |2309 | 7.1 |56.3 | 5a
32 2 |61.4 | 136|2132|3721 |5853|1009 |1819 |2827 | 6.6 |57.2 | 5b
24 3¼ |62.1 | 122|1663|2786 |4449| 540 | 884 |1124 | 7.8 |59.6 | 6a
24 1¾ |61.6 | 127|1632|2803 |4435| 509 | 901 |1410 | 8.2 |58.2 | 6b
27 3¼ |61.7 | 118|1834|3151 |4985| 711 |1249 |1960 | 6.8 |58.2 | 7a
25 1¼ |61.5 | 125|1682|2953 |4635| 559 |1051 |1610 | 7.9 |56.9 | 7b
| | | | | | | | | | |
32 1¾ |62.1 | 102|2115|3683 |5798| 992 |1781 |2773 | 5.5 |57.4 | 8a
30 3 |61.7 | 123|2020|3720 |5740| 897 |1818 |2715 | 6.5 |54.3 | 8b
22 3 |62.5 | .. |1477|2506 |3983| 228 | 604 | .. | .. |53.9 |1}9a
26 2 |61.0 | .. |1755|3052 |4807| 632 |1150 | .. | .. |57.5 |2}
26 0 |61.3 | 123|1717|2858 |4575| 594 | 956 |1550 | .. |60.1 | 9b
25 3 |61.5 | 118|1702|2891 |4593| 579 | 989 |1568 | 7.3 |58.8 | 10a
25 2¾ |61.2 | 133|1705|2874 |4579| 582 | 972 |1554 | 8.2 |59.3 | 10b
| | | | | | | | | | |
30 3½ |61.6 | 142|2044|3517 |5561| 921 |1615 |2536 | 6.3 |59.5 | 11a
29 1¾ |61.8 | 123|1941|3203 |5144| 818 |1301 |2119 | 6.7 |60.6 | 11b
29 2 |62.0 | 124|1953|3452 |5405| 830 |1550 |2380 | 6.6 |57.1 | 12a
27 0½ |61.8 | 121|1796|3124 |4920| 673 |1222 |1895 | 7.1 |57.4 | 12b
20 2½ |62.5 | 108|1959|3306 |5265| 836 |1404 |2240 | 5.5 |57.3 | 13a
27 1¼ |62.3 | 96|1801|3171 |4972| 678 |1269 |1947 | 5.3 |56.7 | 13b
28 0¾ |62.8 | 175|1944|3362 |5306| 821 |1460 |2281 | 9.7 |59.5 | 14a
26 3¾ |62.8 | 166|1856|3006 |4862| 733 |1104 |1837 | 9.8 |61.7 | 14b
| | | | | | | | | | |
32 3 |63.0 | 151|2214|3876 |6090|1091 |1974 |3065 | 7.2 |57.1 | 15a
32 0 |62.6 | 137|2140|3617 |5757|1017 |1715 |2732 | 6.6 |59.1 | 15b
| | | | | | | | | | |
29 1¼ |62.3 | 132|1959|3417 |5376| 836 |1515 |2351 | 6.9 |57.3 | 16a
34 2¼ |62.6 | 119|2283|4012 |6295|1160 |2110 |3270 | 5.2 |56.9 | 16b
33 3 |62.3 | 119|2222|4027 |6249|1099 |2125 |3224 | 5.6 |55.1 | 17a
35 1¼ |62.0 | 117|2314|4261 |6575|1191 |2359 |3550 | 6.4 |54.3 | 17b
32 0¾ |62.7 | 142|2160|3852 |6012|1037 |1950 |2987 | 6.9 |56.0 | 18a
29 1½ |62.9 | 181|2029|4164 |6193| 906 |2262 |3168 | 9.7 |48.7 | 18b
| | | | | | | | | | |
32 3 |62.8 | 140|2195|4202 |6397|1072 |2300 |3372 | 6.7 |52.2 | 19
20 0¾ |62.5 | 70|1332|2074 |3406| 209 | 172 | 381 | 4.9 |64.2 | 20
.. .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |}21
| | | | | | | | | | |}22
--------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----
Here again, I want the Deacon to look at plot 0, where 500 lbs. Peruvian
guano, sown in October, gives an _increase_ of nearly 14 bushels of
dressed wheat and 1,375 lbs. of straw per acre. On plot 2, where 14 tons
of barn-yard manure have now been applied four years in succession (56
tons in all), there is a little more straw, but not quite so much grain,
as from the 500 lbs. of guano.
“But will the guano,” said the Deacon, “be as lasting as the manure?”
“Not for wheat,” said I. “But if you seed the wheat down with clover, as
would be the case in this section, we should get considerable benefit,
probably, from the guano. If wheat was sown after the wheat, the guano
applied the previous season would do little good on the second crop of
wheat. And yet it is a matter of fact that there would be a considerable
proportion of the guano left in the soil. The wheat cannot take it up.
But the clover can. And we all know that if we can grow good crops of
clover, plowing it under, or feeding it out on the land, or making it
into hay and saving the manure obtained from it, we shall thus be
enabled to raise good crops of wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and corn,
and in this sense guano is a ‘lasting’ manure.”
“Barnyard-manure,” said the Doctor, “is altogether too ‘lasting.’ Here
we have had 56 tons of manure on an acre of land in four years, and yet
an acre dressed with 500 lbs. of guano produces just as good a crop. The
manure contains far more plant-food, of all kinds, than the guano, but
it is so ‘lasting’ that it does not do half as much good as its
composition would lead us to expect. Its ‘lasting’ properties are a
decided objection, rather than an advantage. If we could make it less
lasting--in other words, if we could make it act quicker, it would
produce a greater effect, and possess a greater value. In proportion to
its constituents, the barn-yard manure is far cheaper than the guano,
but it has a less beneficial effect, because these constituents are not
more completely decomposed and rendered available.”
“That,” said I, “opens up a very important question. We have more real
value in manure than most of us are as yet able to bring out and turn to
good account. The sandy-land farmer has an advantage over the clay-land
farmer in this respect. The latter has a naturally richer soil, but it
costs him more to work it, and manure does not act so rapidly. The
clay-land farmer should use his best endeavors to decompose his manure.”
“Yes,” said the Doctor, “and, like John Johnston, he will probably find
it to his advantage to use it largely as a top-dressing on the surface.
Exposing manure to the atmosphere, spread out on the land for several
months, and harrowing it occasionally, will do much to render its
constituents available. But let us return to Mr. Lawes’ wonderful
experiments.”
“On eight plots,” said I, “300 lbs. of ammonia-salts were used without
any other manures, and the _average_ yield on these eight plots was
nearly 26 bushels per acre, or an average increase of 9 bushels per
acre. The same amount of ammonia-salts, with the addition of
superphosphate of lime, gave an increase of 13 bushels per acre. 400
lbs. ammonia salts, with superphosphate of lime, gave an _increase_ of
nearly 16 bushels per acre, or three bushels per acre more than where 14
tons of barn-yard manure had been used four years in succession.
“I hope, after this, the Deacon will forgive me for dwelling on the
value of available nitrogen or ammonia as a manure for wheat.”
“I see,” said the Deacon, “that ground _rice_ was used this year for
manure; and in 1845, _tapioca_ was also used as a manure. The
Connecticut Tobacco growers a few years since used _corn-meal_ for
manure, and you thought it a great waste of good food.”
I think so still. But we will not discuss the matter now. Mr. Lawes
wanted to ascertain whether _carbonaceous_ matter was needed by the
growing wheat-plants, or whether they could get all they needed from the
soil and the atmosphere. The enormous quantities of carbonaceous matter
supplied by the barn-yard manure, it is quite evident, are of little
value as a manure for wheat. And the rice seems to have done very little
more good than we should expect from the 22 lbs. of nitrogen which it
contained. The large quantity of carbonaceous matter evidently did
little good. Available carbonaceous matter, such as starch, sugar, and
oil, was intended as food for man and beast--not as food for wheat or
tobacco.
The following table gives the results of the experiments the _fifth_
year, 1847-8.
Experiments at Rothamsted on the Growth of Wheat, Year After Year,
on the Same Land.
Table V.--Manures and Produce; 5th Season, 1847-8. Manures and Seed
(Old Red Lammas), Sown Autumn, 1847.
Manures
FM Farm-yard Manure.
P-A Pearl-ash.
S-A Soda-ash.
SMg Sulphate of Magnesia.
SPL Superphosphate of Lime.
B-A Bone-ash.
SAc Sulphuric Acid (Sp. gr. 1.7.)
MAc Muriatic Acid.
SAm Sulphate of Ammonia.
MAm Muriate of Ammonia.
RC Rape-Cake.
---+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Manure per Acre, etc. |
P +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----------------------+-----+-----+
l | | | | | | Superphosphate | | |
o | | | | | | of Lime. | | |
t | | | | | +-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |
s | FM | P-A | S-A | SMg | SPL | B-A | SAc | MAc | SAm | MAm | RC |
---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| Tons|lbs. |lbs. |lbs. |lbs. |lbs. |lbs. |lbs. |lbs. |lbs. |lbs. |
0 | .. | .. | .. | .. |2240 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
2 | 14| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
3 | Unmanured.| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
4 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 200 | .. | 200 | 300 | .. | .. |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
5 | .. | 300 | 200 | 100 | .. | 200 | 150 | .. | 250 | 250 | .. |
5 | .. | 300 | 200 | 100 | .. | 200 | 150 | .. | 200 | 200 | 500 |
6 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 400 | 300 | .. | 200 | 200 | .. |
6 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 200 | 150 | .. | 200 | 200 | .. |
7 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 400 | 300 | .. | 150 | 150 | 500 |
7 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 200 | 150 | .. | 150 | 150 | 500 |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
8 | .. | 300 | 200 | 100 | .. | 200 | 150 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
8 | .. | 300 | 200 | 100 | .. | 200 | 150 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
9 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 200 | 150 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
9 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 200 | 150 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
10 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
10 | .. | 300 | 200 | 100 | .. | 200 | 150 | .. | 150 | 150 | .. |
| | | | | | | | | | | .. |
11 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 200 | 150 | .. | 150 | 150 | 500 |
SOURCES & PROVENANCE
1 listed
This page is an AI-organised index. The label means the grouping and cross-links were compiled with AI; the information itself comes from the public-domain books, reports and manuals listed below. Open any source to read the local copy or follow the link to the original publication.
PUBLIC-DOMAIN BOOK
Talks on Manures A Series of Familiar and Practical Talks Between the Author and the Deacon, the Doctor, and Other Neighbors, on the Whole Subject
primary
Full text in the local archive
Bibliographic record from the archive catalogue.