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 TEXT

contained 74 ” 50 ” 10 tons of dry earth after being used twice contained 84 ” 88 ” 10 tons of dry earth after being used thrice contained 102 ” 102 ” After looking at the above figures, the Deacon remarked: “You say 10 tons of dry earth before being used in the closet contained 62 lbs. of nitrogen. How much nitrogen does 10 tons of barn-yard manure contain?” “That depends a good deal on what food the animals eat. Ten tons of average fresh manure would contain about 80 lbs. of nitrogen.” “Great are the mysteries of chemistry!” exclaimed the Deacon. “Ten tons of dry earth contain almost as much nitrogen as 10 tons of barn-yard manure, and yet you think that nitrogen is the most valuable thing in manure. What shall we be told next?” “You will be told, Deacon, that the nitrogen in the soil is in such a form that the plants can take up only a small portion of it. But if you will plow such land in the fall, and expose it to the disintegrating effects of the frost, and plow it again in the spring, and let the sun and air act upon it, more or less of the organic matter in the soil will be decomposed, and the nitrogen rendered soluble. And then if you sow this land to wheat after a good summer-fallow, you will stand a chance of having a great crop.” This dry earth which Dr. Vœlcker analyzed appeared, he says, “to be ordinary garden soil, containing a considerable portion of clay.” After it had been passed once through the closet, one ton of it was spread on an acre of grass-land, which produced 2 tons 8 cwt. of hay. In a second experiment, one ton, once passed through the closet, produced 2 tons 7 cwt. of hay per acre. We are not told how much hay the land produced without any dressing at all. Still we may infer that this top-dressing did considerable good. Of one thing, however, there can be no doubt. This one ton of earth manure contained only 1¼ lb. more nitrogen and 1½ lb. more phosphoric acid than a ton of the dry earth itself. Why then did it prove so valuable as a top-dressing for grass? I will not say that it was due solely to the decomposition of the nitrogenous matter and other plant-food in the earth, caused by the working over and sifting and exposure to the air, and to the action of the night-soil. Still it would seem that, so far as the beneficial effect was due to the supply of plant-food, we must attribute it to the earth itself rather than to the small amount of night-soil which it contained. It is a very common thing in England, as I have said before, for farmers to make a compost of the sods and earth from an old hedge-row, ditch, or fence, and mix with it some lime or barn-yard manure. Then, after turning it once or twice, and allowing it to remain in the heap for a few months, to spread it on meadow-land. I have seen great benefit apparently derived from such a top-dressing. The young grass 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 largely to the material acting as a kind of mulch, rather than to its supplying plant-food to the grass. I doubt very much whether we can afford to make such a compost of earth with lime, ashes, or manure in this country. But I feel sure that those of us having rich clay land containing, in an inert form, as much nitrogen and phosphoric acid as Dr. Vœlcker found in the soil to be used in the earth-closet at Wakefield, can well afford to stir it freely, and expose it to the disintegrating and decomposing action of the atmosphere. An acre of dry soil six inches deep weighs about 1,000 tons; and consequently an acre of such soil as we are talking about would contain 6,200 lbs. of nitrogen, and 3,600 lbs. of phosphoric acid. In other words, it contains to the depth of only six inches as much nitrogen as would be furnished by 775 tons of common barn-yard manure, and as much phosphoric acid as 900 tons of manure. With such facts as these before us, am I to blame for urging farmers to cultivate their land more thoroughly? I do not know that my land or the Deacon’s is as rich as this English soil; but, at any rate, I see no reason why such should not be the case. CHAPTER XXIX. MANURES FOR BARLEY. Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert have published the results of experiments with different manures on barley grown annually on the same land for twenty years in succession. The experiments commenced in 1852. The soil is of the same general character as that in the field on the same farm where wheat was grown annually for so many years, and of which we have given such a full account. It is what we should call a calcareous clay loam. On my farm, we have what the men used to call “clay spots.” These spots vary in size from two acres down to the tenth of an acre. They rarely produced even a fair crop of corn or potatoes, and the barley was seldom worth harvesting. Since I have drained the land and taken special pains to bestow extra care in plowing and working these hard and intractable portions of the fields, the “clay spots” have disappeared, and are now nothing more than good, rather stiff, clay loam, admirably adapted for wheat, barley, and oats, and capable of producing good crops of corn, potatoes, and mangel-wurzels. The land on which Mr. Lawes’ wheat and barley experiments were made is not dissimilar in general character from these “clay spots.” If the land was only half-worked, we should call it clay; but being thoroughly cultivated, it is a good clay loam. Mr. Lawes describes it as “a somewhat heavy loam, with a subsoil of raw, yellowish red clay, but resting in its turn upon chalk, which provides good natural drainage.” The part of the field devoted to the experiments was divided into 24 plots, about the fifth of an acre each. Two plots were left without manure of any kind. One plot was manured every year with 14 tons per acre of farm-yard manure, and the other plots “with manures,” to quote Dr. Gilbert “which respectively supplied certain constituents of farm-yard manure, separately or in combination.” In England, the best barley soils are usually lighter than the best wheat soils. This is probably due to the fact that barley usually follows a crop of turnips--more or less of which are eaten off on the land by sheep. The trampling of the sheep compresses the soil, and makes even a light, sandy one firmer in texture. In this country, our best wheat land is also our best barley land, _provided_ it is in good heart, and is very thoroughly worked. It is no use sowing barley on heavy land half worked. It will do better on light soils; but if the clayey soils are made fine and mellow, they produce with us the best barley. In chemical composition, barley is quite similar to wheat. Mr. Lawes and Dr. Gilbert give the composition of a wheat-crop of 30 bushels per acre, 1,800 lbs. of grain, and 3,000 lbs. of straw; and of a crop of barley, 40 bushels per acre, 2,080 lbs. grain, and 2,500 lbs. of straw, as follows: ----------------+----------------+----------------+------------------ | In Grain. | In Straw. | In Total Produce. +-------+--------+-------+--------+----------+------- | Wheat | Barley | Wheat | Barley | Wheat | Barley | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. Nitrogen | 32. | 33. | 13. | 12. | 45. | 45. Phosphoric acid | 16. | 17. | 7. | 5. | 23. | 22. Potash | 9.5 | 11.5 | 20.5 | 18.5 | 30. | 30. Lime | 1. | 1.5 | 9. | 10.5 | 10. | 12. Magnesia | 3.5 | 4. | 3. | 2.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 Silica | 0.5 | 12. | 99.5 | 63. | 100. | 75. ----------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+----------+------- A few years ago, when the midge destroyed our wheat, many farmers in Western New York raised “winter barley,” instead of “winter wheat,” and I have seen remarkably heavy crops of this winter barley. It is not now grown with us. The maltsters would not pay as much for it as for spring barley, and as the midge troubles us less, our farmers are raising winter wheat again. Where, as with us, we raise winter wheat and spring barley, the difference between the two crops, taking the above estimate of yield and proportion of grain to straw, would be: 1st. Almost identical composition in regard to nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, lime, and magnesia; but as it has more straw, the wheat-crop removes a larger amount of silica than barley. 2d. The greatest difference is in the length of time the two crops are in the ground. We sow our winter wheat the last of August, or the first and second week in September. Before winter sets in, the wheat-plant often throws out a bunch of roots a foot in length. During the winter, though the thermometer goes down frequently to zero, and sometimes 10° to 15° below zero, yet if the land is well covered with snow, it is not improbable that the roots continue to absorb more or less food from the ground, and store it up for future use. In the spring, the wheat commences to grow before we can get the barley into the ground, though not to any considerable extent. I have several times sown barley as soon as the surface-soil was thawed out five or six inches deep, but with a bed of solid frozen earth beneath. 3d. Two-rowed barley does not ripen as early as winter wheat, but our ordinary six-rowed barley is ready to harvest the same time as our winter wheat. 4th. We sow our barley usually in May, and harvest it in July. The barley, therefore, has to take up its food rapidly. If we expect a good growth, we must provide a good supply of food, and have it in the proper condition for the roots to reach it and absorb it; in other words, the land must be not only rich, but it must be so well worked that the roots can spread out easily and rapidly in search of food and water. In this country, you will find ten good wheat-growers to one good barley grower. “That is so,” said the Deacon; “but tell us about Mr. Lawes’ experiments. I have more confidence in them than in your speculations. And first of all what kind of land was the barley grown on?” “It is,” said I, “rather heavy land--as heavy as what the men call ‘clay-spots,’ on my farm.” “And on those clay-spots,” said the Deacon, “you either get very good barley, or a crop not worth harvesting.” “You have hit it exactly, Deacon,” said I. “The best barley I have this year (1878) is on these clay-spots. And the reason is, that we gave them an extra plowing last fall with a three-horse plow. That extra plowing has probably given me an extra 30 bushels of barley per acre. The barley on some of the lighter portions of the field will not yield over 25 bushels per acre. On the clay-spots, it looks now (June 13) as though there would be over 50 bushels per acre. It is all headed out handsomely on the clay-spots, and has a strong, dark, luxuriant appearance, while on the sand, the crop is later and has a yellow, sickly look.” “You ought,” said the Doctor, “to have top-dressed these poor, sandy parts of the field with a little superphosphate and nitrate of soda.” “It would have paid wonderfully well,” said I, “or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, the loss would have been considerably less. We have recently been advised by a distinguished writer, to apply manure to our best land, and let the poor land take care of itself. But where the poor land is in the same field with the good, we are obliged to plow, harrow, cultivate, sow, and harvest the poor spots, and the question is, whether we shall make them capable of producing a good crop by the application of manure, or be at all the labor and expense of putting in and harvesting a crop of chicken-feed and weeds. Artificial manures give us a grand chance to make our crops more uniform.” “You are certainly right there,” said the Doctor, “but let us examine the Rothamsted experiments on barley.” You will find the results in the following tables. The manures used, are in many respects the same as were adopted in the wheat experiments already given. The mineral or ash constituents were supplied as follows: _Potash_--as sulphate of potash. _Soda_--as sulphate of soda. _Magnesia_--as sulphate of magnesia. _Lime_--as sulphate, phosphate, and superphosphate. _Phosphoric acid_--as bone-ash, mixed with sufficient sulphuric acid to convert most of the insoluble earthy phosphate of lime into sulphate and soluble superphosphate of lime. _Sulphuric acid_--in the phosphatic mixture just mentioned; in sulphates of potash, soda, and magnesia; in sulphate of ammonia, etc. _Chlorine_--in muriate of ammonia. _Silica_--as artificial silicate of soda. Other constituents were supplied as under: _Nitrogen_--as sulphate and muriate of ammonia; as nitrate of soda; in farm-yard manure; in rape-cake. _Non-nitrogenous organic matter, yielding by decomposition, carbonic acid, and other products_--in yard manure, in rape-cake. The artificial manure or mixture for each plot was ground up, or otherwise mixed, with a sufficient quantity of soil and turf-ashes to make it up to a convenient measure for equal distribution over the land. The mixtures so prepared were, with proper precautions, sown broadcast by hand; as it has been found that the application of an exact amount of manure, to a limited area of land, can be best accomplished in that way. The same manures were used on the same plot each year. Any exceptions to this rule are mentioned in foot-notes. 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. Table I.--Showing, _taken together with the foot-notes,_ the description and quantities of the manures applied per acre on each plot, in each year of the twenty, 1852-1871 inclusive. [N.B. This table has reference to all the succeeding Tables]. ---------+------------------------------------------------------ |Manures per Acre, per Annum (unless otherwise Plots | stated in the foot-notes). ---------+------------------------------------------------------ 1 O. |Unmanured continuously 2 O. |3½ cwts. Superphosphate of Lime* 3 O. |200 lbs. †Sulphate of Potass, 100 lbs. ‡Sulphate | Soda, 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia 4 O. |200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass. 100 lbs. ‡Sulphate Soda, | 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia, 3½ cwts. Superphosphate 1 A. |200 lbs. Ammonia-salts§ 2 A. |200 lbs. Ammonia-salts, 3½ cwts. Superphosphate 3 A. |200 lbs. Ammonia-salts, 200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass, | 100 lbs. ‡Sulphate Soda, 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia 4 A. |200 lbs. Ammonia salts 200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass, | 100 lbs. ‡Sulphate Soda, 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia, | 3½ cwts. Superphosphate {1 AA. |275 lbs. Nitrate Soda {2 AA. |275 lbs. Nitrate Soda, 3½ cwts. Superphosphate ‖{3 AA. |275 lbs. Nitrate Soda, 200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass, { | 100 lbs. ‡Sulphate Soda, 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia {4 AA. |275 lbs. Nitrate Soda, 200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass, | 100 lbs. ‡Sulphate Soda, 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia, | 3½ cwts. Superphosphate {1 AAS.|275 lbs. Nitrate Soda, 400 lbs. ¶Silicate Soda {2 AAS.|275 lbs. Nitrate Soda, 400 lbs. ¶Silicate Soda, { | 3½ cwts. Superphosphate {3 AAS.|275 lbs. Nitrate Soda, 400 lbs. ¶Silicate Soda, { | 200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass, 100 lbs. ‡Sulphate Soda, { | 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia {4 AAS.|275 lbs. Nitrate Soda, 400 lbs. ¶Silicate Soda, | 200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass, 100 lbs. ‡Sulphate Soda | 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia, 3½ cwts. Superphosphate {1 C. |1000 lbs. Rape-cake {2 C. |1000 lbs. Rape-cake, 3½ cwts. Superphosphate **{3 C. |1000 lbs. Rape-cake, 200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass, { | 100 lbs. ‡Sulphate Soda, 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia, {4 C. |1000 lbs. Rape-cake, 200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass, | 100 lbs. ‡Sulphate Soda, 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia, | 3½ cwts. Superphosphate {1 N. |275 lbs. Nitrate Soda ††{2 N. |275 lbs. Nitrate Soda (550 lbs. Nitrate for 5 years, | 1853, 4, 5, 6, and 7) M. |100 lbs. ‡‡Sulphate Soda, 100 lbs. Sulphate Magnesia, | 3½ cwts. Superphosphate (commencing 1855; 1852, 3, | and 4, unmanured 5 O. |200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass, 3½ cwts. Superphosphate | (200 lbs. Ammonia-salts also, for the first year, | 1852, only) 5 A. |200 lbs. †Sulphate Potass, 3½ cwts. Superphosphate, | 200 lbs. Ammonia-salts 6 {1 |Unmanured continuously {2 |Ashes (burnt-soil and turf) 7 |14 Tons Farmyard-Manure ---------+------------------------------------------------------ [*: “3½ cwts. Superphosphate of Lime”--in all cases, made from 200 lbs. Bone ash, 150 lbs. Sulphuric acid sp. gr. 1.7 (and water).] [†: Sulphate Potass--300 lbs. per annum for the first 6 years, 1852-7.] [‡: Sulphate Soda--200 lbs. per annum for the first 6 years, 1852-7.] [§: The “Ammonia-salts”--in all cases equal parts of Sulphate and Muriate of Ammonia of Commerce.] [‖: Plots “AA” and “AAS”--first 6 years, 1852-7, instead of Nitrate of Soda, 400 lbs. Ammonia-salts per annum; next 10 years, 1858-67, 200 lbs. Ammonia-salts per annum; 1868, and since, 275 lbs. Nitrate of Soda per annum. 275 lbs. Nitrate of Soda is reckoned to contain the same amount of Nitrogen as 200 lbs. “Ammonia-salts.”] [¶: Plots “AAS”--the application of Silicates did not commence until 1864; in ‘64-5-6, and 7, 200 lbs. Silicate of Soda and 200 lbs. Silicate of Lime were applied per acre, but in 1868, and since, 400 lbs. Silicate of Soda, and no Silicate of Lime. These plots comprise, respectively, one half of the original “AA” plots, and, excepting the addition of the Silicates, have been, and are, in other respects, manured in the same way as the “AA” plots.] [**: 2000 lbs. Rape-cake per annum for the first 6 years, and 1000 lbs. only, each year since.] [††: 300 lbs. Sulphate Potass, and 3½ cwts. Superphosphate of Lime, without Nitrate of Soda, the first year (1852); Nitrate alone each year since.] [‡‡: Sulphate Soda--200 lbs. per annum 1855, 6, and 7.] [Transcriber’s Note: The following is an alternative version of the same table, giving the information in the form used in all earlier tables.] FM Farm-yard Manure. ABT Ashes (burnt-soil and turf). SiS Silicate of Soda. SPh Superphosphate. SMg Sulphate of Magnesia. SP Sulphate of Potass. SS Sulphate of Soda. NS Nitrate of Soda. RC Rape-Cake. A-S Ammonia-salts. -------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+---- Plots | FM | ABT | SiS| SPh|SMg | SP | SS | NS | RC |A-S -------+-----+-----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+---- |Tons.| lbs.|lbs.|lbs.|lbs.|lbs.|lbs.|lbs.|lbs. |lbs. 1 O. | .. | .. | -- unmanured continuously-- | .. 2 O. | .. | .. | .. | 350| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. 3 O. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 100| 200| 100| .. | .. | .. 4 O. | .. | .. | .. | 350| 100| 200| 100| .. | .. | .. 1 A. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 200 2 A. | .. | .. | .. | 350| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 200 3 A. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 100| 200| 100| .. | .. | 200 4 A. | .. | .. | .. | 350| 100| 200| 100| .. | .. | 200 {1 AA. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | 275| .. | .. {2 AA. | .. | .. | .. | 350| .. | .. | .. | 275| .. | ..