Part 28 Talks on Manures - 🍇GrapeNovel.com

Part 28

"It is curious," said the Doctor, "that 3 cwt. of ammonia-salts alone on plots 9 and 10 should produce as much wheat as was obtained from plot 2, where 14 tons of barn-yard manure had been applied two years in succession. I notice that on one plot, the ammonia-salts were applied at once, in the spring, while on the other plot they were sown at four different times--and that the former gave the best results."

The only conclusion to be drawn from this, is, that it is desirable to apply the manure _early_ in the spring--or better still, in the autumn.

"You are a great advocate of Peruvian guano," said the Deacon, "and yet 3 cwt. of Peruvian guano on Plot 13, only produced an increase of two bushels and 643 lbs. of straw per acre. The guano at $60 per ton, would cost $9.00 per acre. This will not pay."

This is an unusually small increase. The reason, probably, is to be found in the fact that the manure and seed were not sown until March, instead of in the autumn. The salts of ammonia are quite soluble and act quickly; while the Peruvian guano has to decompose in the soil, and consequently needs to be applied earlier, especially on clay land.

"I do not want you," said the Deacon, "to dodge the question why an application of 14 tons of farmyard-manure per acre, every year for over thirty years, does not make the land too rich for wheat."

"Possibly," said I, "on light, sandy soil, such an annual dressing of manure _would_ in the course of a few years make the land too rich for wheat. But on a clayey soil, such is evidently not the case. And the fact is a very important one. When we apply manure, our object should be to make it as available as possible. Nature preserves or conserves the food of plants. The object of agriculture is to use the food of plants for our own advantage."

"Please be a little more definite," said the Deacon, "for I must confess I do not quite see the significance of your remarks."

"What he means," said the Doctor, "is this: If you put a quant.i.ty of soluble and available manure on land, and do not sow any crop, the manure will not be wasted. The soil will retain it. It will change it from a soluble into a comparatively insoluble form. Had a crop been sown the first year, the manure would do far more good than it will the next year, and yet it may be that none of the manure is lost. It is merely locked up in the soil in such a form as will prevent it from running to waste. If it was not for this principle, our lands would have been long ago exhausted of all their available plant-food."

"I think I understand," said the Deacon; "but if what you say is true, it upsets many of our old notions. We have thought it desirable to plow under manure, in order to prevent the ammonia from escaping. You claim, I believe, that there is little danger of any loss from spreading manure on the surface, and I suppose you would have us conclude that we make a mistake in plowing it under, as the soil renders it insoluble."

"It depends a good deal," said I, "on the character of the soil.

A light, sandy soil will not preserve manure like a clay soil. But it is undoubtedly true that our aim in all cases should be to apply manure in such a form and to such a crop as will give us the greatest _immediate_ benefit. Plowing under fresh manure every year for wheat is evidently not the best way to get the greatest benefit from it. But this is not the place to discuss this matter. Let us look at the result of Mr.

Lawes' experiments on wheat the third year:"

Experiments at Rothamsted on the Growth of Wheat, Year After Year, on the Same Land.

Table III.--Manures and Produce; 3rd Season, 1845-6. Manures and Seed (Old Red Lammas), Sown Autumn, 1845.

Manures FM Farmyard Manure.

A3W Ash from 3 loads (3,888 lbs.) Wheat-straw.

LWM Liebig's Wheat-manure.

PG Peruvian Guano.

SPL Superphosphate of Lime.

SiP Silicate of Pota.s.s.[1]

P-A Pearl-ash.

S-A Soda-ash.

MLS Magnesian Lime-stone.

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.

-----+--------------------------------------------------------------+

Manures per Acre.

P +-----+-----+---+---+-----------+---+---+---+---+------+---+---+ l

SPL

+-----------+

A3W

LWM

SiP

P-A

S-A

MLS

B-A

SAc

MAc

SAm

MAm

-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+------+---+---+

Tons.

lbs.

lbs

bs.

lbs

lbs.

lbs

336

224

Unmanured.

224

5a{1

..}

{..

..}

Straw

{..

224[1]

5b{1

..}

Ash

{..

448

..}

{..

224[1]

448

112

448

112

448

224

448

224

112

448

224

448

10a

224

10b

Unmanured.

11a

224

448

11b

224

112

12a

180

224

448

12b

180

224

112

13a

200

224

448

13b

200

224

112

14a

224

448

14b

224

112

15a

224

448

15b

224

448

16a

224

448

16b

224

448

17a

224

112

448

17b

224

18a

224

112

18b

224

112

448

20 }

21 }

Mixture of the residue of

22 }

most of the other manures.

-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+------+---+---+

Produce: Wt/Bu Weight per Bushel.

OC Offal Corn.

TC Total Corn.

S&C Straw and Chaff.

TP 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, etc.

Acre by Manure.

P --------------+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+------+

l Dressed Corn.

o --------+-----+

t Qty.

Wt/Bu

S&C

OCD

C100

s --------+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+---- Bu. Pks.

lbs.

28 1

62.3

134

1906

2561

4467

699

1048

1747

7.3

74.4

0 22 0

62.6

120

1509

1953

3462

302

440

742

8.1

77.3

1 27 0

63.0

113

1826

2454

4280

619

941

1560

6.6

74.4

2 17 3

63.8

1207

1513

2720

7.4

79.7

25 3

63.5

130

1777

2390

4167

570

877

1447

7.8

74.3

19 0

63.7

1305

1541

2846

126

84.6

1}5a 27 0

63.0

126

1827

2309

4136

620

796

1416

79.1

2} 23 2

63.4

100

1598

1721

3319

391

208

599

92.8

1}5b 30 0

63.3

165

2076

2901

4977

869

1388

2257

71.6

2} 20 1

63.7

102

1400

1676

3076

193

163

356

7.0

83.6

6a 29 0

63.5

114

1967

2571

4538

760

1058

1818

5.3

76.5

6b 22 3

63.0

1534

1968

3502

327

405

732

6.8

77.9

7a 31 3

63.4

150

2163

3007

5170

956

1494

2450

7.5

72.6

22 3

63.5

101

1549

1963

3512

342

450

792

7.1

78.9

8a 29 0

63.6

132

1988

2575

4563

781

1062

1843

7.2

77.2

8b 23 2

63.0

122

1614

2033

3647

407

520

927

7.9

79.4

9a 28 3

63.3

114

1942

2603

4545

735

1090

1825

7.0

74.6

9b 27 1

63.6

109

1850

2244

4094 643

731

1374

6.4

82.4

10a 17 2

63.8

1216

1455

2671

-58

-49

7.8

83.6

10b

23 1

63.3

145

1628

2133

3761

421

620

1041

9.8

76.3

11a 30 0

63.2

155

2055

2715

4770

848

1202

2050

6.1

75.7

11b 24 1

63.0

125

1661

2163

3824

454

650

1104

7.9

76.8

12a 28 2

63.4

136

1955

2554

4509

748

1041

1789

7.4

76.5

12b 24 0

63.5

136

1660

2327

3987

453

814

1267

9.1

71.3

13a 29 1

63.2

138

1998

2755

4753

791

1242

2033

7.3

72.5

13b 23 2

63.0

117

1605

2031

3636

398

518

916

7.7

79.0

14a 26 2

63.4

124

1812

2534

4356

605

1021

1626

7.4

71.5

14b

31 1

62.5

147

2112

2936

5048

905

1423

2328

7.5

71.9

15a 27 2

63.0

117

1861

2513

4374

654

1000

1654

5.9

74.0

15b

23 3

62.5

108

1592

2967

3659

385

554

939

7.0

77.0

16a 30 1

62.7

122

2019

2836

4855

812

1323

2135

6.6

71.2

16b 33 2

62.8

129

2241

3278

5519

1034

1765

2799

5.8

68.3

17a 30 2

63.0

113

2034

2784

4818

827

1271

2098

5.9

73.0

17b 31 0

62.8

103

2048

2838

4886

841

1325

2166

5.1

72.2

18a 21 1

62.0

157

1474

1893

3367

267

380

647

6.6

77.1

18b

28 3

62.0

107

1889

2425

4314

682

912

1594

5.8

77.9

{20 .. ..

{21

{22 --------+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+----

[Note 1: Top-dressed in the Spring.]

This year, the seed and manures were sown in the autumn. And I want the Deacon to look at plot 0. 3 cwt. of Peruvian guano here gives an increase of 10 bushels of wheat, and 1,948 lbs. of straw per acre. This will pay _well_, even on the wheat alone. But in addition to this, we may expect, in our ordinary rotation of crops, a far better crop of clover where the guano was used.

In regard to some of the results this year, Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert have the following concise and interesting remarks:

"At this third experimental harvest, we have on the continuously unmanured plot, namely, No. 3, not quite 18 bushels of dressed corn, as the normal produce of the season; and by its side we have on plot 10_b_--comprising one-half of the plot 10 of the previous years, and so highly manured by ammoniacal salts in 1845, but now unmanured--rather more than 17 bushels. The near approach, again, to ident.i.ty of result from the two unmanured plots, at once gives confidence in the accuracy of the experiments, and shows us how effectually the preceding crop had, in a practical point of view, reduced the plots, previously so differently circ.u.mstanced 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 27 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 7? bushels of corn and 768 lbs. of straw, instead of by 9 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 quant.i.ty of available nitrogenous const.i.tuents 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 quant.i.ty 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 20 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 29 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 9 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

of Lime

+------+------+------+

B-A

SAc

MAc

SAm

MAm

-----+-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+

Tons.

lbs.

500

200

350

Unmanured.

200

300

200

150

200

150

500

150

200

150

500

200

9a{1

2240

150

10a

150

10b

150

11a

100

150

11b

100

150

12a

100

150

12b

100

150

13a

100

150

13b

100

150

14a

100

150

14b

100

150

15a

200

300

500

15b

200

300

500

16a

100

150

16b

100

150

17a

100

150

17b

100

200

18a

100

150

18b

100

150

100

300

500

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.

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