Price One Shilling, [RTILISERS FEEDI NG STUFFS By beknaed dyee, d.sc. WITH T^OTRS CK THJS FEBTILISfiBS AND PltlEDINa STUFFS ACT, 1893. Bt a. J- DAYID, LL.M. FOURTH EDITION, REVISED OROSBT LOOKWOOD & SON. BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF M^nvQ W. Sag* X891 iniw. Ul/im... 5474 Cornell University Library S 633.5.G7D99 1903 Fertilisers and feeding stuffs; ttieir pro 3 1924 000 302 038 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000302038 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS A HANDBOOK FOR THE PRACTICAL FARMER Fertilisers AND Feeding Stuffs XTbeir properties an& "Ulses BY BERNARD DYER, D.Sc. (Lond.) CONSULTING CHEMIST TO THE ESSEX, LEICESTER, AND DEVON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES ; DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL ANALYST FOR THE COUNTIES OF BEDFORD, CORNWALL, ESSEX, HANTS, HERTS, LEICESTER, RUTLAND AND WEST SUFFOLK. iVITH THE FV1.L. TEXT OF THE FERTILTSERS AND FEEDING STUFFS ACT, iSq3, THE REGULATIONS AND FORMS OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE iRotes on tbe Hot By a. J. DAVID, B.A., LL.M. (Cantab.) OF THE INNER TEMPLE BARRISTER-AT-LAW FOURTH EDITION, REVISED LONDON CROSBY LOCKWOOD AND SON stationers' hall court, ludgate hill 1903 NOTE TO FOURTH EDITION. ' ♦ »- T N the present Edition this Httle work has been carefully revised throughout, and some of the original recommendations have been modified in accordance with later experi- ence. Mr David has also been good enough to bring his legal notes up to date. B. D. 17 Great Tower Street, November 1903. PREFACE. THE contents of this little book (with the exception of the Appendix) were originally published in the form of a series of newspaper articles, which, appearing in several journals, were widely circulated in various parts of the country. Many requests for their republication in a connected form having been made, it has been decided to reprint them. The question naturally arose whether the articles should be expanded or amplified. It was thought, on the whole, better to reprint them substantially as they originally appeared, since any attempt to enlarge them would prac- tically alter their scope, and might tend to give to the present volume some appearance of pre- tension to what is hereby distinctly disclaimed for it — namely, the character of a Text-book. The book is not addressed to Students of Agricultural Science, but to Practical Farmers ; and it is hoped that it may serve to convey to readers of that class, and perhaps to others who are interested in the subject, some occasionally useful advice on points of practice that are not VI PREFACE. always well understood. It will not prejudice the value of such advice to point out that — incomplete or imperfect as it may be — it is, at all events, not merely the outcome of the laboratory or the lecture-room, but is, in a large measure, the result of personal observation and experience, gained during nearly twenty years of friendly relations, as well as of professional intercourse, with many Farmers in many counties of Eng- land and Wales. To one of these — viz., Mr Edward Rosling, F.R.M.S., with whom I have had the good fortune to be especially associated in the Essex Field Experiments — I have to express my obligation for his having read and revised the proof sheets. The only addition to the original articles is the Appendix, containing the text of the Fer- tilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, the legal Notes upon which have been kindly supplied by Mr A. J. David, of the Inner Temple. These will, no doubt, be acceptable to those interested in the operation of the Act, whether administratively or as purchasers or vendors. The Regulations of the Board of Agriculture, issued under the Act, are also appended. B. D 17 Great Tower Street, London, E.G. September 1894. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. VAGE The General Functions of Fertilisers - • i CHAPTER II. Farmyard Manure lo CHAPTER III. Artificial Fertilisers 21 CHAPTER IV. Application of Artificial Fertilisers ■ • -46 CHAPTER V. Purchased Feeding Stuffs • • - • - 65 PAGB X CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. Comparative Value of Foods - • • - 79 APPENDIX. I. Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, with Notes - - 89 II. Regulations of the Board of Agriculture 100 Form A. — Appointment by Buyer of Agent - - 107 Form B. — Request that Samples be taken by Analyst ..... . 108 III. Forms of Certificate of District Analyst, issued by the Board - - - no INDEX • . - - 119 FERTILISERS FEEDING STUFFS. CHAPTER I. THE GENERAL FUNCTIONS OF, FERTILISERS. In a young state of agriculture, as, for instance, in the cultivation of newly opened up prairie land, from which no crops have been artificially removed within the history of civilisation, the word " fertiliser " is unknown, for the thing it describes is unnecessary. As time goes on, however, the land refuses longer to yield good crops for the mere trouble of tilling, sow- ing, and reaping. Its original fertility sinks to a point above which it can only be raised by supple- menting the plant sustenance furnished by nature. Then manuring comes into play, and agriculture becomes, as in all old countries, very largely the art of economising the natural plant foods in the soil, and of judiciously supplementing them. Fortunately, by far the greater part of the solid A 2 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. substance of plants is furnished from natural sources that are practically inexhaustible. Water, in the shape of rain and dew, and the gaseous carbonic acid gas, which abounds in never-failing quantity in the air, build up the great bulk of the tissues of plants ; and for these constituents of plant substance, except indeed in times of drought, we have no anxiety. But moisture and carbonic acid are useless without other constituents which have to be derived from the soil. These are nitrogen and mineral substances. Certain plants, it is true, have the power, by indirect means, to fix and utilise the free atmospheric nitro- gen with which the soil is bathed from the superin- cumbent air ; and the growth of these crops undoubtedly serves from time to time to partially restore the fixed nitrogen of the soil, of which most farm crops are the greedy robbers. Indeed, but for this partial restoration, our old cultivated lands must have sunk to a very low ebb of production long before the time of modern farming, with its many and varied opportunities of artificial plant-food restoration. But even taking into account nature's partial and occa- sional restoration of nitrogen, the quantity of this element naturally yielded by old farm land is quite inadequate to produce satisfactory crops ; while the stock of purely mineral or saline substances in the soil has no natural powers of regeneration. If it is not kept up by artificial restoration in some way or other, it must gradually diminish, and with it must diminish the annual possible yield of the soil. If, however, the farmer had to supply to his crops all the nitrogen and all the mineral food necessary for GENERAL FUNCTIONS OF FERTILISERS. 3 their subsistence, as would be the case if he had to cultivate an absolutely barren tract of sand, he could not grow crops except at largely enhanced prices. He relies to a great extent on the natural or inherent or accumulated plant food of the soil. A great deal of this is only " potential " food ; that is to say, it is substance capable of being converted into presently assimilable food by proper management and cultiva- tion of the soil. The soil indeed may be said to contain a vast quantity, not so much of actual plant food, as of raw material, out of which plant food, by nature and by art, is year by year elaborated. It is largely for the use of this raw material that the farmer pays rent. Leaving out of account the technical definitions of political economists, the farmer may be said to pay rent partly for the space on which his crops grow — his factory, as it were ; and partly as purchase money for a certain annually obtained quantity of raw material in the shape of plant food derived from the actual substance of the soil. If the soil were sufficiently rich, the air and rain would gratuitously supply the rest of the plant food — the mere water and carbon — and the farmer's labour would enable him with the aid of nature, to build up the maximum crops which the local conditions of climate would allow. But, except in newly opened up countries, the annual quantity of plant food sup- plied by the soil, even under the best cultivation, is insufficient, and it is necessary to husband the annual food supplies of the soil to the utmost by restoring them as far as possible, and by using them over and over again. 4 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. A shallow view of the subject, such as might present itself to any one who for the first time bent his attention upon it, would be, that if the farmer paid part of his rent for raw material in the soil, the more of that material he succeeded in abstracting from the farm the better his bargain. But, fortunately for the landlord, this in practice is not at all to the farmer's interest, for the plant food he gets from the soil is a relatively small part of the crops that he sells. The greater part of his meat and corn may crudely be said to be solidified air and rain. The valuable nitrogen and minerals, though they govern and regulate the bulk of the produce, form but a rela- tively small proportion by weight of the actual total material exported from the farm. Most of the total nitrogen and of the minerals drawn from the soil by the round of farm crops are in one form or other left on the farm. Corn is sold, and sometimes hay and straw; but the bulk of the straw, most of the hay, practically all the roots, the pasture grasses, and green fodder generally, are consumed in the process of making meat, wool, and milk, and the great bulk of the valuable plant food in them, is converted into manure and re-utilised. It is only by re-utilising much of it again and again that the farmer gets the most he can get from the raw material he buys from his landlord ; and to do this he is bound to keep his land in a high condition of fertility, and to constantly develop its capabilities in a way that proves beneficial to the landlord as well as to himself. But it does not suffice even to economise the plant food bought from the landlord. If the other portion GENERAL FUNCTIONS OF FERTILISERS. 5 of his rent — paid for the land in its capacity as factory or premises — is to be as productive as possible, more raw material must be employed than can annually be got out of the best old cultivated land. The natural raw material must be supplemented by raw material purchased from outside. Sometimes the farmer buys this in the form of town dung, or of guano, bone dust, superphosphate, nitrate of soda, shoddy, fish refuse, or any other of the many forms of manures or " fer- tilisers," as we are now learning, from America, to call them. Sometimes, instead of buying fertilisers, he supplements the natural resources of his farm by buying feeding stuffs — oilcake, corn, meals, hay, and what not. These enable him to keep more stock than the farm resources alone would support, and they directly economise, and indirectly add to, the stock of plant food belonging to the farm itself — that is, to the soil. This is so far recognised, that an Act of Parliament exists (the Agricultural Holdings Act), which draws, in principle, although not faultlessly, a distinction between the plant food which belongs to the landlord, and that which may be considered to belong to the tenant ; and a quitting tenant may claim, under certain conditions, compensation for the abandonment to his successor of certain unexhausted portions of plant food which he himself has added to the land ; though a really equitable adjustment of such claims is often exceedingly difficult, owing to the complicated way in which the interests of the landlord and of the outgoing and incoming tenants- are interwoven. However, the fact remains that the best farmer is 6 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUEES. he who adds to a business knowledge in the buying and selling of his stock and his crops, the best skill in utilising the natural plant food of the soil, and who is most skilful and most economical in supplement- ing it ; and by economical is not here meant "' parsi- monious," for true economy is in this case more often found to consist in increase rather than decrease of expenditure. Skill in utilising the natural resources of the land consists in many things. In the choice of times for, and in the thoroughness of, ploughing and other operations necessary for preparing a good seed bed ; in determining the exact times of sowing ; in the choice not only of crops, but of the varieties best suited to local conditions ; in deciding the order in which arable crops shall follow one another (rota- tions) ; in settling the duration of life to be accorded to temporary pastures ; in the growth of catch-crops, where they can be advantageously taken ; in dealing with the many questions relative to the economical consumption of forage crops by the various kinds of farm stock ; and in taking proper care of the manure produced on the farm itself, and in applying it with the utmost effect and with the least waste of labour and of material. Most of these matters lie outside the scope of these few chapters, although it is dif^cult to separate many of them from the actual question of manuring. To manure is to bring food to the plant — and there is little distinction between supplying the food and directing and regulating its consumption — which is directly or indirectly what the farmer sets himself to GENERAL FUNCTIONS OF FERTILISERS. 7 do when he strives to deal in the best way with most of the questions just enumerated. The only ones among them on which we can dwell are those im- mediately relating to the production, economy, and application of dung or farmyard manure. The greater portion of our space will, however, be devoted to the remaining part of the art of the good farmer — viz., to the economical supplementing of the land's own resources by means of well-chosen and skilfully-applied purchased fertilisers and feeding stuffs. Without one or other class of these substances, and, speaking generally, without both classes, the utmost skill will not ensure anything like the full result that should follow on the farmer's thought and labour. It must not, however, be supposed that such advice as may be offered will be put forward as a talisman fer helping English farmers out of the sad plight in which too many of them to-day find themselves. Many of the questions involved in the deep depression of our national industry form no part of our present subject. But it is difficult to dispute that under equal advantages and disadvantages of rent, tithe, rates, taxes, labour-bills, and low prices — the less unfor- tunate of two given farmers is he who can raise, acreage for acreage, and outlay for outlay, the best produce without loss of weight, and the heaviest pro- duce without loss of quality. It requires as much in rent and other fixed charges and labour, to grow a small crop per acre as to g^ow a large one ; and even if the value of the crop when raised is depressed to a minimum by foreign competition, the farmer who 8 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. increases his own acreage yield by any expenditure less than the intrinsic value of the harvested in- crease, must necessarily be in a better position than the one who fails to do so. And even though beef be cheap, the farmer who by skilful choice of food fattens a bullock quickly, is in a better (or less bad) position than one who, parsimoniously feeding, unduly prolongs the fattening process, forgetting that every superfluous day the animal lives, so much the more food is consumed for the maintenance of heat and other vital processes which carry no credit in the market. These introductory remarks, many of them, no doubt, almost too obviously true, appear desirable in order to define the nature and scope of what is to follow. Such matters only will be dealt with as strictly bear upon the actual art and business of farm- ing, without any attempt to enter upon theoretical considerations that are only intelligible to the student of agricultural chemistry ; and as far as possible technical phrases and words will be avoided. While, however, such information and suggestions as will be afforded will be addressed mainly to those who have not had the advantage of making any con- siderable acquaintance with the elements of agricul- tural chemistry, it is hoped that at least some, even among those who have devoted leisure hours to the study of sound text-books on agricultural science, may find here and there hints of practical value. If it occasionally appears to readers of the latter class that some of the information given about com- monplace articles is superfluous, it may be replied. GENERAL FUNCTIONS OF FERTILISERS. 9 from the writer's own personal experience, that a large number of farmers know very little about the nature of articles with which they might be supposed to be familiar, and that their practice suffers accord- ingly. Not many years ago a substantial farmer of large experience was heard by the writer to say that he was top-dressing his wheat with superphosphate instead of nitrate of soda, because the price of the latter had temporarily advanced, while that of super- phosphate had gone down ; and he pointed out that he could buy several hundredweight of superphos- phate for the price of one cwt. of nitrate of soda. He was quite unaware that superphosphate, though an excellent manure for roots, supplied a constituent which, in ordinary good farming, was wasted as a top-dressing for wheat, while nitrate of soda supplied the only thing (nitrogen) likely to do the wheat any good. If this incident appears to afford too strong an instance of lack of knowledge, it is nevertheless a strictly true one, and perhaps not so exceptional as might be supposed. And if a fairly prosperous farmer known on the London corn market is found not to know the difference, except in price and appearance, between superphosphate and nitrate of soda, and to use them interchangeably, it may be supposed that there are a number of practical men who might usefully possess more information than they do on the finer distinctions between the pro- perties and uses of the many kinds of artificial fer- tilisers and feeding stuffs daily brought to their notice by those engaged in their production and sale. CHAPTER II. FARMYARD MANURE. The value of farmyard manure depends, firstly, oh the materials of which it is formed ; secondly, on the conditions of its formation ; and thirdly, on the way it is kept and treated until it is applied to the soil. The materials are litter and the excreta of animals. Litter consists generally of straw, but sometimes, to a considerable and increasing extent, of peat moss. Peat moss litter is more absorbent than straw, and therefore goes further, and it retains better than straw the manurial properties of the excreta which it takes up. Its use on the farm in partial substitution for straw sets free a corresponding quantity of straw for feeding purposes. In such seasons as that of 1893-94 the scarcity of fodder renders it an absolute necessity to economise straw as much as possible. But even in ordinary seasons, straw might be much more largely utilised as fodder than it is, of which more will be said hereafter. Here all that need be stated is that, as a material for litter, in making farmyard manure, the advantage in value as an absorbent and producer of concentrated and well-preserved manure lies with peat moss. But, at present, most of our dung is made PARM^ARD manure. II with straw, and in a great number of cases questions of price and carriage will, in ordinary times, cause straw to retain its leading place as litter. Many other materials are occasionally used as litter, but the main variations in the initial composition of dung depend most on the other materials that go to make it up — viz., the excreta of farm animals. The variations in the value of the excreta depend not merely on the number of animals but also upon their species. The dung of horses, for instance, yields hotter or more rapidly fermenting manure than does the dung of cows or oxen. Again, the age and condition of the animals have their effect, for rapidly growing young stock use up for their own purposes more of the manurially valuable parts of their food than old or mature beasts, and therefore pass on less of it to the manure-heap. Similarly, milking cows rob their food more than do fattening oxen, for the manufacture of fat does not absorb so much manurial matter from the animal's food as does the formation of milk. Broadly, however, we may say that the initial value of the dung depends upon the nature and quantity of the food consumed. The manurially valuable constituents of dung are nitrogen (in various forms), phosphates, and potash. There is a mass of organic matter — chiefly fibre — which on rotting makes a most valuable mechanical addition to the soil ; but this forms the main part of the dry matter in any case, whether the dung be rich or poor. It is the variations in nitrogen, phosphates, and potash that make the difference between rich and poor dung; for these are the actual plant foods which dung 12 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. conveys to the soil, as distinguished from aids to good physical condition. Now, apart from the quantities of these constituents contained in the straw, the proportion of valuable plant food in the dung depends upon the quantity of nitro- gen, phosphates, or potash in the excreta, solid and liquid, of the animals littered on the straw. This, even for any one class of animal, is by no means a constant quantity. A certain proportion of nitrogen and of saline matters is voided daily by each animal, in virtue of the merely necessary vital processes, the daily body waste. This is made up, day by day, by the animal retaining a corresponding quantity of like ingredients from its food. If in addition to this it is growing, or producing milk, it abstracts from its food somewhat more nitrogen and saline matters. But, after all, it will not retain in its carcase, or yield as milk, more than from, widely speaking, one-tenth to one-fifth of the nitrogen, phos- phates, and potash contained in its daily food. Of the starch, sugar, oil, and albuminoids in its food, a large proportion will be expelled in the breath and as moisture by various channels, respiratory and excre- tory, while a good deal will be converted into flesh (muscle and fat), or milk. But the only portions of the food that are capable, when converted into manure, of nourishing plants, are the nitrogen (one constituent only of the albuminoids), the phosphates, and the potash. Of these ingredients, it has been said already, the animals only retain a small portion. The rest passes through their systems either as waste matter that has done its physiological work in the FARMYARD MANURE. 13 body and is done with, or as mere undigested super- fluity. Any farmer knows that a bullock can be fattened either on a starchy food like maize or on an oily and albuminoid food like linseed cake or decorticated cotton cake. Given a liberal diet of clover-hay, and roots, it probably will not make a great deal of difference whether the bullock gets maize or cake. If he is fed on poor meadow hay, or hay and straw chaff, with limited roots, it will make a great difference ; but more of this later. Now, linseed cake contains three times as much nitrogen as maize, and decorti- cated cotton cake four times as much ; and therefore, since, presuming the animal in either case to have enough for its requirements, it cannot use up more than a given quantity of nitrogen from either food, there is evidently a far larger proportion of nitrogen in the manure from the cake-fed beast than in that from the maize-fed one. If dung was the only manure we had to use, we should invariably try to use as nitrogenous a diet as we could for our farm animals ; and in the days of high-priced corn, the ox was often regarded by the farmer as a manure-making machine. Now, however, most of the farm crops are regarded as subsidiary to meat-making, rather than the stock subsidiary to corn-growing, and what the farmer looks to is to feed his animals as cheaply and as quickly as he can. If farinaceous foods happen to be very low in price, it may be wise to use these largely and to use less cake. In that case the manure is poorer, and the experienced farmer will, in such case, use more artificial manure, 14 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. which is now, in almost all its forms, to be bought cheaply and readily in any part of the country. On the other hand, if circumstances of the market, or his system or mode of feeding and fattening, deter- mine him to use oil-cake largely, he ought to be able by doing so to keep down his bills for artificial manure to a lower limit than if he fed chiefly on wheat-meal, barley, maize, or other farinaceous foods poor in nitrogen. The initial richness of dung, then, depends broadly upon the quantity and nitrogenous character of the foods consumed, as adjuncts to the roots, hay, and straw which form the bulk of the food used on the homestead. Ground-nut cake, decorticated cotton cake, and linseed cake are highly nitrogenous ; undecorticated or common ("English") cotton cake, peas, beans, and dried grains, are intermediately nitrogenous ; while wheat, barley, maize, oats, and rice are examples of poorly nitrogenous foods. Roughly speaking, foods rich in nitrogen are also, generally, rich in phosphates and potash, and vice versa. While, then, it is no longer to be laid down as a canon of English farming that the aim and object of the farmer is to make his dung as rich as he can, it is nevertheless desirable that he should remember how far, and in what way, any alteration in his feeding operations is calculated to increase or diminish the value of his dung-heap. But, unhappily, far greater questions than the initial value of the dung are passed over unregarded by too many farmers, namely, the questions of the FARMYARD MANURE. 15 losses and general deterioration to which dung is subjected after it is made. A great deal has been said and written on the subject of the proper treatment and preservation of dung, but farmers as a rule have unfortunately paid little attention to the repeated warnings of the chemist as to the waste that arises from the careless management of this important product of the farm- yard ; and while farming has made great progress in many other directions in obedience to the teachings of science, the muck-heap has strangely continued to be an object of comparative neglect. As has been elsewhere pointed out, this is no doubt partly due to the too expensive means of conservation often sug- gested, such as the erection of roofs, the expense of which is, in hard times, out of the question ; and partly to the fact that the greatly increased supply and consequent cheapness of artificial manures and purchased foods, renders the rigid economy of the farmer's own natural resources a matter of less apparent necessity than it formerly appeared to be. To grasp in a moment the great direction in which farmers sin in the waste of manure, we have only to clearly realise one simple fact, — a fact so simple indeed, that the persistent failure to appreciate it, or to act on that appreciation, is curious. It is that by far the most valuable part of the manurial matter of farmyard manure is contained in the liquid excreta of the animals, and exists in the " dung" in a soluble and readily fermentable form. It is quite common to see open farmyards strewn all over with dung, which instead of being frequently 1 6 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. removed to the dung heap, is left exposed in a gradually deepening layer to the soddening and washing action of the rain. Pools of rich brown drainage accumulate as the litter proves itself incom- petent to absorb the rainfall in addition to the natural moisture from the beasts, and this drainage finds con- venient gutters, accidental or designed, by which it flows away, not into an underground tank but into the nearest ditch, where much of the very essence of the manure (namely, the ammonia salts, and soluble phos- phates and potash salts) is absolutely lost. When at last the condition of the yard becomes too bad, the half-spoiled manure is carted to the dung heap, and this is too often so placed or so made as to encourage still further loss, by drainage or by fermen- tation, or by both, of its more valuable materials. It is not possible in this short work to do more than glance briefly at this great national evil, for such it is ; or at the best means of remedying it. The matter has been treated of at some length by the present writer in ^q Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society (December 1893), in a review of a treatise on farmyard manure published by the celebr.ated French agricultural scientist, M. Grandeau ; and it may be permissible perhaps to suggest that those who wish for more detailed information on the subject, in some of its newer phases, might with advantage refer to this article. One or two of the points made by M. Grandeau may, however, be mentioned here. M. Grandeau calculates — on data which we cannot here stop to examine — that the farmyard manure produced in France is initially worth some ;^66,ooo,ooo FARMYARD MANURE. 17 a year ; and he further calculates that, by faulty and careless management, more than one-sixth of its most valuable constituents — or over ;^i 1,000,000 a year — is absolutely lost. The present writer, basing his reasoning on the quantity of straw produced and utilised in agriculture, has calculated that the annual production of farm- yard manure in the United Kingdom amounts to some 40,000,000 tons — worth, at 5s. a ton, as much as ;^ 10,000,000 sterling. The probable annual loss of nitrogen alone, by careless treatment of this dung, — calculated on data for which the careful reader must be again referred to the article in question, — is as much as would be contained in from 230,000 to 340,000 tons of nitrate of soda, costing at ;^I0 a ton some ;^2, 300,000 to ^^3,400,000 per annum, of which loss certainly a very large proportion could be saved. Without doubt the best way to avoid the great bulk of this enormous loss would be by the universal use of deep-feeding boxes and covered yards ; but unfortunately such agricultural enterprise as should provide these is, at the present time, only possible on a limited number of farms or estates. Ready money is too precious to the landlord, as well as to the farmer, to be freely spent even in permanent im- provements of such acknowledged value as good farm buildings. But recent investigations by Holdefleiss, the Agri- cultural Director of the Experiment Station at Proskau, have brought out in a remarkably clear and unques- tionable form the value of certain simple and less £ i8 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. heroic measures which have often been recommended by chemists, though their utility has not perhaps been hitherto so clearly demonstrated. The simplest of these remedies is to make, as a foundation for the dung heap, a good bed of dry earth, and to remove the dung as frequently as may be possible from the floor of the yards or boxes, and to pile it on the bed of earth, covering it occasionally with a light protective layer of earth, and, finally, with a good thick coating of the same material. Dung, preserved in this way, was found by analysis, after six months, to have lost but 2 per cent, of its virtue ; while a similar mass of dung, without the protective cover of earth, lost 23 per cent, or nearly one-fourth of its virtue, measured in each case by the loss of the most valuable ingredient, nitrogen. Tested in the field, the earth-preserved manure yielded on a potato crop more than three times the increase given by a corresponding quantity of the carelessly kept dung unprotected by earth, and in another trial nearly twice as much increase on a wheat crop. This mode of preservation is particularly recommended on strong moisture-retaining land. Other methods of preservation described, less simple, but nevertheless easy to carry out, are to sprinkle the dung, as it is produced, with ingredients, which, like superphosphate and gypsum, shall act as fixers or absorbents of ammonia ; or which, like kainit, shall act as antiseptics, or preservers of the dung from speedy fermentation. The former produce a fairly ripened manure, suited to dry climates, or to clay soils poor in humus or organic matter ■ while the FARMYARD MANURE. 19 latter are recommended for the preservation of dung for light and open land, where it is desirable that it shall remain " long " or unrotted. If the former method of chemical treatment be adopted, a mixture should be made of equal parts of superphosphate and gypsum, and about \\ lb. or 2 lbs. a day, per head of stock, should be sprinkled amongst the dung. If, on the other hand, kainit be used as an antiseptic, about 2 lbs. per head per day should be strewn on it. The immense superiority of manure prepared in either of these ways to manure heaped without these precautions has also been proved not only by analysis, but by experiments in the field. The details of these experiments of Holdefleiss are duly set forth in the article already referred to, and are very striking. Preservation by earth, where good loamy soil is at hand, appears to be the simplest method ; but on clayey farms, during wet weather, friable earth is not easy to obtain, and then probably superphosphate or gypsum, for the time being may be used as directed. The story of the sad waste of farmyard manure by deterioration in the yard and on the heap is an old one ; and the recommendation to mix earth with it, and even to mix superphosphate, gypsum, or kainit with it, with a view to lessening the loss, are far from new. What is, however, new and striking in the experi- ments of Holdefleiss is the quantitative demonstration of the nature and extent of the saving effected, as shown by accurate weighing and measuring and analysis of each heap, treated and untreated ; and the corroboration of this by the relative action of the 20 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. manure on farm crops, observed not merely on the crops to which it was immediately applied, but on those of a succeeding season. The value of the teaching of these experiments needs no further commendation than the figures already quoted as estimates of our national waste through neglect of such precautions. It may be added, in conclusion of this part of the subject, that unless proper care is taken in the making and preserving of dung, the sooner it goes on to the land the better CHAPTER III. ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. Having dealt with the nature and composition of farmyard manure, and the treatment best adopted for preserving it, and avoiding waste of its most valu- able ingredients, we have next to examine the place occupied, in a proper system of farming, by artificial fertilisers. Farmyard manure is made, as we have seen, from materials grown on the farm, — from straw as litter, and partly as food, and from hay, grass, roots, and other forage crops, after they have done work as food. So far, then, farmyard manure at its best returns to the soil nothing but what has come off it. It is, however, in practice enriched by the manure obtained by the additional consumption of purchased foods. But when we consider the many losses, already set forth, to which farmyard manure is subject, it is probably but rarely that even the additional food used counter- balances them, unless such food is largely contributed directly to the soil, as in the " caking " of sheep on the turnip field, or in grazing with cake-fed beasts. Even then, however, the manure made on the farm is generally insufficient to produce all that the land 22 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. and the climate can grow ; and recourse is had to artificial aids. Most farmers who have tried will know that, even with a heavy dressing of dung, a first-rate crop of turnips can rarely be grown without the help of a little superphosphate or bone manure, or other phos- phatic fertiliser ; for young turnips require a great deal of readily available phosphoric acid in their early stages of growth. Even if we attempt to supply this by overwhelming them with dung, we shall act wastefully, by providing very much more nitrogen than the crop requires ; and in doing this we may easily overfeed and so injure it. If, therefore, we rely wholly on dung for a turnip crop, we either fail to get a good crop, or we obtain it at too extravagant a cost, for dung is a very expensive manure, and should be economised. Instances might easily be multiplied of the fact that the most economical way to use dung is to supplement it by artificial fertilisers, and in ordi- nary rotations some crops are best grown without any direct dressing of dung at all. As the writer has elsewhere said, now that artificial fertilisers are so cheap and so plentiful, being, as they are, capable of directly furnishing any required element of plant food, and also so light to carry and easy to use, the farmer is rendered so far independent of dung that he can distribute his stock of it as he pleases, giving it to the fields that most need it, or to the crops that are most grateful for it, instead of extending it in a meagre dressing all over the farm. Some crops, like clover, peas, and beans, flourish best on dung ; while others, such as barley, do as well or better without it, if ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 23 proper artificials are used. Permanent pasture is more safely manured with dung than wholly with artifi- cials, while rotation grasses can be safely manured with very heavy dressings of artificials, even without dung. The application of dung, moreover, is laborious, both for horses and for men, and it is often more economi- cal to use the bulk of the available dung on the part of the farm nearer to the farmyard, and to save cartage by relying more on artificials in the outlying fields. Furthermore, artificials may be so chosen as to yield their full effects immediately, while a dressing of dung often takes many years to produce all the effects of which it is capable. Curiously enough, the ready availability of the best and most concentrated artificial fertilisers is sometimes used as an argument against them, as compared with slower or more " lasting " manures. If a manure " lasts," it means that the return for its cost is delayed, the capital it represents yielding no interest until it is realised. Coarse bones have been sometimes preferred to fine bone meal, merely for the reason that they distribute their effects over a greater number of years. It is forgotten that the total effect is the same, and that it is only divided, part of the money spent lying meantime unproductive for several seasons. A well-chosen artificial fertiliser should act promptly and decisively on the crop to which it is applied ; but it does not follow that its effect is limited to that crop. High farming with good promptly-acting arti- ficials raises the condition of the land. More straw is grown by their aid, which enables the farmer to 24 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS make more dung, while the greater produce of roots and other forage crops helps in the same direction Such green stuff, like mangold tops, as is not fed, is in additional quantity ploughed into the soil to its improvement ; whilst the increased growth of any crop by the aid of , additional manure leaves in the soil an increased residue of rootlets, which, on decaying, lighten the earth and better its condition. Artificial fertilisers, in short, properly and abundantly used, so far from exhausting a farm, increase and maintain its fertility, and it is the rapidity of their action to which their effects are due. The more promptly available they are, the greater and more " lasting " is their effect in improving the farm on which they are judiciously used. The first artificial manure — almost, it may be said, a natural manure — was bone dust, the effects of which were found to be very striking on worn-out pasture lands ; but it was Peruvian guano that first opened the eyes of the farmer to what could be done by means of strong and concentrated fertilisers. While guano still occupies a prominent place among arti- ficial manures, the extent of its supply has long become inadequate to meet the great requirements of agriculture ; and the use of a great many other sub- stances has followed on the discovery of guano, supplying, either separately or in combined form, the constituents which, as a " concentrated dung," enabled guano to produce effects which were at once new and startling. Liebig successfully increased the activity of bones by dissolving them in acid ; and then Lawes started a factory for manufacturing soluble phosphate, ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 25 similar to that of dissolved bones, from mineral phos- phates. A gigantic trade has since risen in manufac- tured chemical fertilisers, as well as in natural products like nitrate of soda, and chemical bye-products like sulphate of ammonia and basic slag. In a paper on the manure industry, published in 1894, the world's consumption of artificial fertilisers was estimated at five and a half millions of tons per annum. Great Britain being credited with over a million tons. We shall now have to consider briefly the nature and composition of the principal varieties of artificial fertilisers in the market, and afterwards to examine into their selection and application for various crops. " The Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act," which came into operation in 1894, provides that any vendor of any manufactured or imported fertiliser, shall give to the purchaser an invoice stating the minimum per- centages of its most valuable ingredients, that is to say of soluble and insoluble phosphates, nitrogen and potash. It is clear that this affords protection to the pur- chaser only if he knows what percentages he may legitimately expect to get in a fairly good article of its kind such as is sold at current market prices. If he does not know this, the guarantee of analysis is useless information to him. We therefore proceed to say a few words about the properties of some of the chief artificial fertilisers in use. Nitrate of Soda. This is one of the most concentrated and active foims of nitrogenous manure that we possess. It is 26 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. imported from the west coast of South America, where it exists in natural deposits, from which it is washed out and re-crystallised. As soda can scarcely in itself be called a fertilising ingredient, the value of nitrate of soda depends on its nitrogen. It supplies no phos- phates and no potash, or only an insignificant quantity of the latter. It is a purely nitrogenous manure, and its nitrogen is soluble in water and exists in the form in which it is most immediately available for plant use. Hence, on a field of green corn, if nitrate of soda be sown, its effect is visible in the darkened colour of the blade within a few hours of the first rainshower that follows the dressing. As we shall hereafter see, nitrate of soda is useful for a large proportion of our crops, and it is destined to play a far larger part even than it now does in our farming system. The old prejudice against it as an " exhausting " manure is fast dying out. Properly used it is not exhausting in the true sense of the word, and even its improper use can only produce a very temporary exhaustion, such as would recoil on the head of the farmer rather than injure the landlord. Used as it should be used, it is one of the cheapest and most valuable adjuncts to sound farming. On account of its extreme solubility it is generally used as a top-dressing. Ordinary good commercial nitrate of soda contains about 95 per cent, of pure nitrate. This contains 15.6 per cent, of nitro- gen (equivalent to 19 per cent, of ammonia). Sulphate of Ammonia. This is a still more concentrated fertiliser than nitrate of soda, inasmuch as it contains from 20 to ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 27 20.5 per cent, of nitrogen (or from 24 to 25 per cent, of ammonia). Like nitrate of soda it is freely soluble, and in an average season, produces practically much the same effect ; but it is slower in its action, since it has to become converted into nitrate in the soil by the action of nitrifying bacteria or micro-organisms before it is available as food to the majority of plants. This change takes place best in warm moist weather. In a somewhat dry or cold season, nitrate of soda is essentially better ; while in an exceedingly wet season, nitrate would be more apt to be partially wasted by washing downwards in a free soil, since, unlike sulphate of ammonia, it circulates freely in the moisture of the soil. Ammonia salts are held tenaciously by the soil until they become nitrified or turned into nitrates. On the whole, unless there is great disparity of price, the preference in an ordinary season lies with nitrate of soda. The nitrogen contained in one ton of nitrate of soda is yielded by about three-quarters of a ton of sulphate of ammonia. But seeing that nitrate of soda is so rapid a manure, it is for some purposes more valuable than sulphate of ammonia, nitrogen for nitrogen ; and when rapid action is required, as in top-dressings, it will not be far wrong to assume that for immediate purposes, a hundredweight of nitrate of soda will go nearly as far as a hundredweight of sulphate of ammonia ; so that even if the prices per ton approximate very closely, it is generally, for top- dressing purposes, good policy to choose nitrate of soda. If, however, the price of nitrate should so rise, and that of sulphate so fall, that the latter should cost 28 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. less per ton than nitrate, it would be probably more economical for some purposes to buy sulphate. But seeing that sulphate of ammonia has its own special adaptations and uses, chiefly for making concentrated compound manures, and that the supply of nitrate is at present very large, this contingency will probably not often occur. Peruvian Guano. The very strong rich guano that first made the reputation of concentrated manures is now scarce, but a Chinchas guano is still to be had yielding a high percentage of ammonia, and a good deal of guano is still imported. While some deposits yet yield fairly strong guano, rich in nitrogen, others yield guano comparatively rich in phosphates and con- taining smaller quantities of nitrogen. All of these guanos are sold on the basis of the official analysis of their cargoes. A large part of the better qualities is blended or graduated so as to bring it to definite per- centages of nitrogen and phosphates, ammonia salts being added where necessary to produce uniformity. These guaranteed or " equalised " guanos are sold to contain definite percentages of nitrogen, phosphates, and potash. Thus, one quality of " equalised " guano is sold to contain nitrogen 6.59 to 7.40 per cent, (equal to from 8 to 9 per cent, of ammonia), and phosphates from 30 to 35 per cent. Another weaker "equalised " guano contains nitrogen 3.29 to 4.12 per cent, (equal to 4 to 5 of ammonia), and 35 to 40 of phosphates — the potash in either case being i^ to 2 per cent. The price, of course, is regulated by the strength. These ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 29 are valuable manures of different degrees of con- centration. Sometimes, again, Peruvian guano is " dissolved " or treated with acid, so as to render it more im- mediately soluble and available for top-dressing. But, as a rule, even in the lower grades of guano, the phosphates, in their natural state, are for the most part readily available for plant use. The prices of all grades of Peruvian guano have been now materially reduced. Ichaboe Guano. This is a rich nitrogenous guano, closely resembling the best qualities of raw Peruvian guano, and, there- fore, supplying phosphates as well as nitrogen. It comes from islands off the coast of Africa. Damaraland Guano Is also a natural guano, rich in nitrogen, phosphates, and potash in a readily available form. " Nitrogen " and " Ammonia." It may here be mentioned that it was formerly the commercial custom to refer to the nitrogenous strength of fertilisers always in terms of "ammonia." Thus, not only were guano and sulphate of ammonia said to contain so much " ammonia " per cent, but the same was said (and is said) of, let us say, dried blood, a manure which really contains no actual ammonia at all. It is animal matter containing nitrogen, which, as it decomposes in the soil, yields ammonia. The 30 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. percentage of nitrogen is the essential thing. The ammonia it is capable of yielding is calculated from the nitrogen. Fourteen lbs. of nitrogen yield, on de- composition of the manure, seventeen lbs. of ammonia. Hence we have been accustomed to say commercially, not that a manure contains 7 per cent, or 14 per cent, of nitrogen, but that it " contains " {i.e., will yield) 8 J or 17 per cent, of ammonia. The custom is now likely to become gradually altered, as the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act prescribes that the invoice shall state the minimum percentage of " nitrogen " (not of ammonia, as has been the custom hitherto). As this may cause confusion to some people, we give now the simple rule : — To turn percentage of nitrogen into percentage of ammonia, multiply the nitrogen by 17 and divide by 14. Conversely, to convert percentage of ammonia into percentage of nitrogen, multiply the ammonia by 14 and divide by 17- Fish Guano. This is a material the use of which is largely increasing. It consists of dried and powdered fish or fish refuse. Sometimes it is made from whole fish, sprats, herrings, menhadden, &c., which are boiled to remove the bulk of the oil (a valuable commercial product), the residue being then dried for manure. Sometimes, and very largely, it consists of the residue of offal from the cod fisheries, haddock and herring curing operations, market fish offal, &c., similarly treated or simply dried. The more the oil has been extracted the better the manure, for the more rapid is ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 31 its decomposition. Oil retards this, and is in itself useless as a manure. In good fish guanos the nitrogen varies from 7 to 8 per cent, up to ro or 12 per cent, and the phosphates from about 6 to 18 per cent. As a rule, the higher the nitrogen the lower the phos- phates. Like Peruvian guano, fish guano furnishes both phosphates and nitrogen, but its nitrogen is all in the form of undecomposed animal matter, whereas in guano it is already largely in the form of actual ammonia salts. Peruvian guano, therefore, acts much more rapidly than fish guano ; and while the former is generally best applied in the spring, fish guano is generally best applied in the autumn, so that it may become well rotten by the time it is wanted. It is much valued in market gardening and as a manure for hops. Bone Dust. While fish guano is an animal manure, rich in nitrogen, and rather poor in phosphates, bones supply an animal manure rich in phosphates, but poor, com- paratively, in nitrogen. Bones are used in various degrees of fineness, as inch bones, half-inch bones, bone dust, bone meal, and steamed bone flour. As a general rule, the more finely they are crushed or ground, the better. The very coarse kinds are now comparatively little used. Their use is a mistake, as a piece of bone an inch long and half an inch thick takes years to become decomposed in the soil, and very often the rooks carry away the coarser pieces, and so cheat the soil altogether. Bones, then, should always be well ground. They should only have been 32 FERIILISEES AND FEEDING STUFFS. lightly boiled to remove th,e fat. Good "raw" or lightly boiled bone dust or bone meal should contain from 40 to 50 per cent, of phosphates and from 3 J to 4 per cent, of nitrogen (equal to 4I or 5 per cent, of ammonia). Ordinary good English raw bone meal generally gives about 45 per cent, of phosphate, and about 3.7 per cent, of nitrogen (equal to 4I of ammonia). Indian bone meal is generally richer both in phos- phates and in nitrogen. Bones that have been highly steamed to obtain gelatine for glue making, have lost most of their nitrogen. They form, however, a good phosphatic manure that is easily ground to a very fine powder. A good quality should yield about 60 per cent, of phosphates and about i per cent, or more of nitrogen. Raw bone meal is more frequently applied to permanent pasture than to other crops, as its action (unless it is very finely ground) is too slow for crops that live but a short life. Finely ground, it is a good autumn phosphatic dressing for wheat, or, ploughed in early, a good dressing for roots, especially on soils poor in carbonate of lime, and therefore unsuitable for acid manures. Unless, however, the meal is finely ground, it is probably better, even in this case, to mix it with some superphosphate, or to use it in a semi- dissolved state. Dissolved Bones. The first attempt at artificial manure making was the treatment of bones, in accordance with the suggestion of Liebig, with sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) This powerful acid attacks the tribasic phos- ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 33 phate of lime, of which the mineral or earthy portion of bones mainly consists, robbing it of part of its lime, forming sulphate of lime (gypsum). The original phosphate of lime, when thus deprived of the greater portion of its lime, is rendered easily soluble in water, being converted into an " acid phosphate." Even of the portion that is not completely converted into acid phosphate, soluble in water, a good deal is changed into an intermediate phosphate (of the composition sometimes called '' precipitated " phosphate) which is much more readily assimilable by plants than the original tribasic phosphate. The material made by the mixture of bones and acids is called " dissolved bones," and consists of bone phosphate, soluble and insoluble in water, sulphate of lime, and of more or less decomposed matter capable of yielding ammonia. It is difficult to make pure dissolved bones containing a very large proportion of soluble phos- phate, for if an excess of sulphuric acid be used, the mass becomes too pasty for easy use. Some manufacturers are more skilful than others in making pure dissolved bones in good condition. Much de- pends on the mode of mixing, the relative fineness of the bone meal, and the particular strength of the acid used. For a long time the term "dissolved bones" was also largely used to designate a variety of com- pounds containing other materials than bone ; these are now almost universally sold as " dissolved bone compounds." Pure dissolved bones, or " vitriolised " bones, should be made only of bones and acid. They are generally guaranted to contain about 30 to 35 per cent, of total phosphates, and nitrogen equal to about C 34 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. 3 to 3^ per cent, of ammonia. As the soluble and insoluble phosphates are apt to react on one another, forming "precipitated" phosphate on keeping, it is difficult for the manufacturers to guarantee any de- finite percentage of soluble and insoluble phosphates respectively, and the " total " phosphates are therefore generally guaranteed instead. Sometimes "boiled" {i.e., steamed) bones are used, and in this case the porportion of nitrogen will be smaller in comparison with the phosphates. When a fertiliser is simply described as " dissolved bones," it should properly consist of unsteamed bones and acid. If steamed bones enter into its composition it should be stated, though the relative percentages of nitrogen and phosphates should indicate this to the purchaser conversant with the composition of bones. Dissolved Bone Compounds. These manures are made from a mixture of mineral phosphates and bone dust, dissolved by acid. They sometimes contain, in addition to bones, other sources of nitrogen, such as dried blood, fish guano, wool dust, &c. If these materials are well dissolved by the acid, they differ little in practical manurial value from the nitrogen actually derived from the bone itself Frequently, however, the nitrogen in these compounds is guaranteed to be derived from bone only — more in deference to the popular opinions of farmers than on accowit of any actual supea-iority in the efficacy of bone nitrogen as compared with sofjie of the partial substitutes used. Shoddy, or wool dust, and ground ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 35 leather are certainly inferior in effect unless very thoroughly vitriolised or dissolved ; but nitrogen from fish or blood is as good as bone nitrogen. The insoluble phosphates, however, derived from bones, must be deemed better than undissolved mineral phosphates ; but the soluble phosphate de- rived from mineral phosphates is quite as good, in every way, as the soluble phosphate from bones, and has the advantage of being cheaper. Dissolved bone compounds vary a good deal in their percentage of fertilising ingredients. A very ordinary type, made by most manufacturers, contains from 18 to 22 per cent, of soluble phosphates, from 8 to 12 per cent, of insoluble phosphates, and about 1.2 per cent, of nitrogen equal to 1.5 per cent, of ammonia. A somewhat poorer article, containing nitrogen equal to only I per cent, of ammonia, is often sold, while higher qualities, more nearly resembling pure dis- solved bones, are also frequently offered. The intending purchaser should scrutinise the guarantees given with these compound manures, as well as their prices per ton, before deciding what make or quality to choose. Mineral Superphosphate. This is the cheapest source of soluble phosphate and is made by treating with sulphuric acid very finely ground mineral phosphates. The first phos- phates of the kind were our native "coprolites " — phos- phatic fossil nodules found in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Bedfordshire. Some of these are still locally used, but furnish only a small proportion of the 36 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. superphosphate annually made in this country, which forms the subject of an enormous manufacturing industry. Mineral phosphates of various kinds are imported from South Carolina, Florida, Canada, France, Belgium, Algeria, and sometimes from Spain and Norway. The imports from the last two countries have practically ceased in recent years, merely on account of the comparative expense of getting the minerals to the coast for transportation. The supplies of mineral phosphate are in fact so large, and the competition between shippers is so keen, that a small rise or fall in ocean freights largely determines from what part of the world the supplies shall come in any given season. In addition to the mineral phosphates properly so-called, there are also various fossil or semi-mineral phosphatic guanos — intermediate in character between the more phosphatic Peruvian guanos and actual mineral phosphates. These have also been from time to time used to a considerable extent in manufacturing superphosphate. Whatever phosphate be used, it is simply ground to fine flour and mixed with a proportion of sulphuric acid — forming a semi-fluid mass which sets, on cool- ing, into the familiar substance superphosphate of lime, or "superphosphate" as it is more shortly called. The strength of the superphosphate, as indicated by the percentage of " soluble phosphate " it contains, is variable, according to the quality of the mineral or minerals used. The favourite quality in this country is guaranteed to contain from 25 to 28 per cent, of soluble phosphate. Superphosphate, however, is fre- quently made containing as much as 35 per cent of ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 37 soluble phosphate, and even 40 per cent. ; while, by special processes of further manufacture, concentrated superphosphates are made containing soluble phos- phoric acid equal to 70 or 80 per cent, of soluble phosphate or even more. These, however, are neces- sarily somewhat dearer in proportion than the ordin- ary makes and are chiefly used for export, where the economy in freight and carriage effects a saving greater than the increased price. Superphosphate may be of any shade of colour — from nearly white to dark grey or dark brown. The colour is a matter of absolute indifference. All the purchaser has to note is the percentage of soluble phosphate and the mechanical condition. This latter is of considerable consequence. A sticky, badly made superphosphate clogs the drills, which, if the manure is to be drilled, causes great annoyance. It should therefore be in a friable, fairly dry condition, and it is better to give a few shillings a ton more than to use an ill-made superphosphate, even if the percentage of soluble phosphate be satisfactory. It is not usual to take into account the insoluble phosphates in the price of mineral superphosphate; and if the manure is newly made, the "insoluble" is probably of little value. Some superphosphates, how- ever, depending upon th6 kind of mineral used, " go back " on keeping, i.e., the soluble phosphate becomes to some extent transformed into " precipitated " phos- phate. This " precipitated " phosphate is insoluble in water, but is more valuable than the phosphate that has not been originally dissolved. The " Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act " does not recognise any distinc- 38 P^kTlLlSERS AJSFD FEEDING STUEfB. tion between precipitated and undissolved phosphates but classes both as insoluble. The makers of some descriptions of phosphate, however, properly insist that a distinction should be made in value between the two; and as the Act does not over-ride the liberty of private contract, there is no reason why a subsidiary guarantee or stipulation should not be made on this head, if buyer and seller agree that "precipitated" phosphate shall be recognised. The value of precipi- tated phosphate in any case, however, is less than that of " soluble '' phosphate on account of its less ready diffusibility. Of its actual availability there can be no doubt. Artificial Guanos. Dissolved Peruvian guano we have already spoken of. It is made by treating guano with a small quan- tity of acid — sufficient to render the bulk of its already available phosphates more rapidly diffusible in the soil, — an advantage in top-dressing. The best quality of dissolved Peruvian guano contains 20 per cent, of soluble phosphates and about 4 per cent, of insoluble, nitrogen equal to 7 or 8 per cent, of ammonia, and 2 per cent, of potash. Artificial imita- tions of dissolved Peruvian guano are made by mixing sulphate of ammonia with the superphosphate made from phosphatic mineralised guanos, and from mineral phosphates. These are guaranteed to contain varying proportions of ammonia and phosphates according to the prices, and if properly made, are rapidly acting fertilisers. ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 39 Basic Slag. This material, otherwise known as " basic cinder," " basic phosphate," " Thomas slag," or " Thomas phos- phate," is a phosphatic manure which has come very largely into use in the last few years. It is a residual material obtained as a bye-product in the manufacture of steel from phosphoric pig-iron. The phosphorus of the iron, which would otherwise render the steel made from it unfit for most purposes, is removed by lining the Bessemer " converters " (in which pig-iron is decarbonised) with a coating of lime and magnesia. The phosphorus is converted into phosphoric acid and attaches itself to the lime ; but at the high temperature of the molten metal, it forms, not ordin- ary or tribasic phosphate, but a phosphate containing more lime and having peculiarly valuable properties. The slag forms a most unpromising-looking, dense, heavy material ; but when finely ground it is found to be remarkably efficacious as manure, the phosphate being far more readily available than mere finely ground ordinary mineral phosphate. It is of various qualities ranging from about 12 per cent, of phos- phoric acid (equal to 26 per cent, of tribasic phosphate of lime) to over 20 per cent, of phosphoric acid (equal to nearly 44 per cent, of phosphate), — so the guarantee of quality should be carefully scrutinised. The effi- cacy of this fertiliser depends also largely upon the fineness to which it has been ground, and there should always be a guarantee as to the percentage of the material that will pass through a standard sieve of 10,000 meshes to the square inch. This is technically called the percentage of " fine meal." The guarantees 40 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. of "fine meal" given by different "makers" vary from 70 per cent, up to 85 per cent. Sometimes as much as go per cent, is " fine meal " if the slag is very well ground. Purchasers should be strictly on their guard in purchasing slag from unknown vendors, for several instances have come under the writer's observation in which ordinary iron slag containing no phosphates and perfectly worthless for manure, has been palmed off for basic slag at a price sufficiently below that of the real article to tempt the unwary. The circumstances under which basic slag should or should not be used in preference to superphosphate form part of a general question which may be con- veniently discussed here. "Basic Superphosphate." A non-acid form of precipitated phosphate is now made by mixing superphosphate with sufficient lime to neutralise it. Its phosphate is then no longer soluble in water, but is easily available for plant food. This form of manure was introduced into commerce on the suggestion of Mr John Hughes, and it is sold under the name of " Basic Superphosphate." Its phosphate is probably more quickly effective, unit for unit, than that of basic slag. Choice of Phosphatic Manures. Those of the manures we have described which con- tain phosphates are clearly divisible into two classes — viz., acidified or dissolved manures, such as super- phosphate, dissolved bone compounds, and dissolved ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 41 guano ; and non-acid manures, such as bone-meal, Peruvian guano, and basic slag. Is it better to use the former class or the latter ? is a question which is very frequently put to the agricultural chemist. The general answer that the writer would give is that it is probably, on the whole, on soils that contain a fair proportion of lime, preferable for most crops to use acid or dissolved manures, such as superphosphate dissolved bone, &c. ; while on soils deficient in lime, it is preferable, as a rule, to use non-acid manures, such as fine bone meal, basic slag, " basic super- phosphate," or Peruvian guano. Under the latter class of soils would fall peaty soils, many clays, and most granitic soils. Old pasture lands, even overlying calcareous formations, are also often poor in lime. The practical farmer will ask how he is to know whether his soil is rich or poor in lime ? Of course in a chalk or limestone district the sufficiency of lime may be obvious, but to the eye alone most soils give no indication as to their richness or poverty in lime. To a chemist the discrimination is easy, but for practical purposes the farmer may easily learn to make for himself a test that will in most cases suffice to determine whether the soil is to be regarded as containing so little lime as to render the use of undissolved manures preferable to that of superphos- phate or similar dissolved manures. It is only necessary to obtain a fair sample of the soil and to dry and powder it and treat it with some common hydrochloric acid ("spirits of salts"). If the soil contains much vegetable or organic matter, a couple 42 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. ot ounces may be first heated red hot on an iron shovel over the fire. The soil (or its ashes) should then be placed in a tumbler and mixed with water to a thin paste. A couple of ounces of the hydrochloric acid are then poured on to it and stirred up with a stick of wood. If the soil effervesces briskly, there is a sufficiency of carbonate of lime. If the effervescence is so slight as to be scarcely noticeable, it is certain that the soil is very poor in lime. Perhaps the result of the experiment is not very decisive either way, in which case it may be desirable to consult an agri- cultural chemist — who should be able readily and for a small fee to decide this single point. But in the majority of cases, if the operator has doubts as to the indication of his experiment, it means that the soil is poor in lime. The effervescence is caused by the escape of carbonic acid gas, the lime being existent as carbonate of lime. There are other forms of lime in the soil, but it is really only that present as carbonate of lime that affects this question. When plants are nourished by acidified or dissolved phosphates, they do not take them up in the form in which they are applied. The moisture in the soil first dissolves the acid phosphates, and these combine with the bases of the soil. If there is a fair supply of lime in the soil, the acidity is counteracted, and we get pre- cipitated phosphate of lime. If there is absence or deficiency of lime, the phosphate forms acid phosphates of iron and alumina, the sourness of which will only gradually disappear, and these are less healthy for plant food than thoroughly and rapidly neutralised phosphates such as would be formed in a soil well supplied with carbonate of lime. AkTtFICtAL FERTILISERS. 43 When the soil is poor in lime it is better to use neutral phosphates, like bone-meal, guano, "basic superphosphate,'' or basic slag, rather than acid or dis- solved phosphates, although the latter spread more easily and on calcareous soils go further, quantity for quantity. When the nature of the soil indicates that preference should be given to undissolved phosphates, it must not be forgotten that we have to supply the latter in greater abundance than in using superphosphates. Numerous experiments with basic slag have indi- cated that to produce the same effect as superphos- phate, at least twice the quantity of phosphoric acid should be applied in the form of slag as would suffice in that of superphosphate. Supposing, therefore, that we are in the habit, for a given crop, of using 3 cwt. per acre of superphosphate containing 26 per cent, of soluble phosphate, and we wish to try in place of it basic slag containing 40 per cent, of phosphate, we should use at least 4 cwt. of basic slag — which quantity contains about twice as much phosphate as 3 cwt. of superphosphate. The calculation, of course, depends on the per- centage of phosphate in basic slag. The excess of phosphate, however, may be expected to benefit the succeeding crops. Dried Blood, Hoofs, Shoddy, Rape Dust, &c. There is a class of animal fertilisers of which we have not yet spoken, which, unlike bones and fish guano, contain little or no phosphates, but are valu- able for their nitrogen. One of the richest and most active of these is dried blood, a manure largely im- ported from America and manufactured also at home. 44 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. It contains enough nitrogen to yield from 12 to 16 per cent, of ammonia, and it rapidly rots in the soil. Dried blood is used a great deal by farmers in its raw state in the North of England, but not very much in the South, though there is no apparent reason for this. Most of it is bought up by the manu- facturers and converted into compound manure. Hoofs and horns are also very rich in nitrogen, but are slow in their action, as also are woollen rags and shoddy. The latter substances vary very much in the percentages of nitrogen — from 2 or 3 up to 8 or 10 per cent. These slow, bulky manures are not suitable for ordinary farming. They are good for hops, or for market gardens where it is desirable to accumulate a bulk of slowly decomposing animal substance, but are too slow and uncertain for ordinary farm crops. Rape dust, or ground rape cake, is a fairly rapidly acting manure, containing 4 or 5 per cent, of nitrogen (equal to 5 or 6 per cent, of ammonia), and a small quantity of phosphates and potash. It is chiefly used for hops, but is good for a winter dressing for wheat, and for other purposes in partial replacement of dung. Potash. The cheapest potash fertiliser is kainit, a natural German salt containing about 23 per cent, of sulphate of potash (say I2| per cent, of potash). Other con- centrated forms of potash are sulphate of potash and muriate of potash. Good commercial qualities of either of these contain about 50 per cent, of potash ; and I cwt., therefore, of either of them goes as far as 4 cwt. of kainit. ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. 45 The effect of potash manures is very uncertain. On some soils they produce good results ; on others, they have no effect at all. All crops require potash, but there is a good deal of this constituent in dung, and many soils contain in themselves a large reserve of it. Light sandy soils, soils on the chalk, heath lands, and peaty soils, are those on which potash is most likely to do good. Strong clays, on the other hand, are generally naturally rich in potash, though no general rule can be laid down. It is always worth while to try the effect of potash on soil on which it may appear reasonably likely to act beneficially, by sowing a strip of kainit across a field of barley, seeds, or roots, at the rate of 4 or 5 cwts. an acre, and noting the effect. Experiments of this kind carried out in Norfolk have on some farms produced such an effect as to be startling, though such poverty as was there indicated is rare. Potatoes are more likely to be grateful for potash manures than any other crop ; and every farmer who grows potatoes ought to convince himself by experiment that kainit will not do potatoes good on his soil before deciding to do without it. It is very easy to sow a few rows with kainit before the sets are planted. If it does good, the good is easily and cheaply to be effected, for kainit costs but little. Probably, on the whole, sulphate of potash is better than kainit, and i cwt. of it goes as far as 4 cwt. of kainit. It usually costs slightly more in proportion, but there is less bulk to carry and deal with. Potash salts should generally be applied some little time in advance of planting or sowing the crop. CHAPTER IV. APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS. Having briefly described the principal artificial fertilisers, and indicated what the farmer who orders them should expect to get, we have to consider their most economical application. The best way to do this will be to take in succession some of our leading farm crops, with suggestions as to their appropriate manurial treatment. Wheat. Wheat niay be taken first, for old association's sake, though at the present price its growth un- happily possesses but melancholy interest for the British farmer. Formerly, we liked to have as much dung as we could for wheat. Under present circumstances the farmer can scarcely afford to dung his wheat directly. If wheat follows, as it frequently does, a crop of clover or mixed seeds, it is better to give the dung to the clover or seeds. A^ heavy forage crop is of more con- sequence to most farmers nowadays than is a straw crop, and it happens that clover cannot be so satis- factorily manured with artificials as with dung. A APPLICATION OF FERTILISERS. 47 big crop of clover, grown with plenty of dung, leaves a large crop of roots in the soil, which decay and form a heavy manurial dressing for the wheat crop, passing on not only a great deal of the goodness of the dung, but additional nitrogen gathered from the subsoil and the air ; for clover and other leguminous crops (peas, beans, sainfoin, vetches, &c.), gather nitrogen from the air as well as from the soil, and their growth actually enriches the soil in nitrogen. A heavy crop of clover is not only good in itself, but is the best pre- paration for wheat. By heavily dunging the clover we do double good. When the ley is ploughed up no more dung should be put on. Let it be spared for other purposes. If the dunging of the seeds or clover crop was not a heavy one, it may be well, however, to give the wheat an autumn artificial dress- ing just before sowing, say two or three cwts. of superphosphate per acre on soils containing a fair quantity of lime ; or if the soil is lacking in lime, either three to five cwts. per acre of basic slag, " basic superphosphate," or fine bone meal, or two to three cwts. phosphatic Peruvian guano. If, however, the dunging of the clover crop was heavy, and the soil a fair "wheat" soil, no autumn dressing need generally be given. In the spring is the critical time' for feeding the wheat crop. The best way to do this is to top-dress it with nitrate of soda. If the wheat follows a good clover crop, one cwt. of nitrate of soda should be enough for it. The quantity of nitrate may vary from three-quarters of a cwt. up to one and a half cwts. per acre, but if the land is in good heart more than this is apt to cause over-growth of straw and make the crop go 48 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. down. Generally speaking, one cwt. per acre is enough after a clover crop. It is wise, especially in rainy districts and on loose and open soils, to divide the dressings of nitrate into two doses — half being put on in February or March, and the other half a few weeks later. When a second wheat crop is taken, the autumn phosphatic dressing already mentioned ought not to be omitted, and two or three cwts. per acre of fish guano, or five or six cwts. per acre of rape dust, may very well be added to the phosphates. As a spring dressing for such a crop (wheat after wheat), two cwts. per acre of nitrate of soda will not generally be too much, but the farmer will be guided by the vigour of the plant. The addition of an equal weight of salt to the nitrate of soda is sometimes found beneficial in curb- ing the tendency of the plant to avail itself too rapidly of the concentrated food provided in the nitrate, and in stiffening the straw. But in some localities the salt acts injuriously by panning the soil, so no general rule can be laid down. On light and freely draining soils, Peruvian guano is still preferred by many as a spring dressing to nitrate of soda. It is less liable to be washed down in excessive wet, though as a rule the plant is fairly deeply rooted in spring. Guano as a top-dressing for corn is, however, probably best employed in the dissolved form, some two to four cwts. per acre being used. As this contains a liberal supply of phosphates as well as nitrogen, it replaces the autumn dressing of phosphates as well as the spring dressing of nitrate. APPLlCATlOl!J OF FERTILISERS. 4^ But, as a rule, it is no doubt better to apply any phosphates required by the wheat crop in the autumn, as already described. Spring Corn. Barley and oats are other crops the manuring of which is on the whole similar, — if they are grown under similar conditions, both being spring crops with a short duration of life. As the conditions of their growth may, however, differ greatly, the manurial treatment of either may considerably vary. The opinion has already been expressed that it is generally good economy to keep dung as far as possible for green and forage crops, seeing that straw crops answer very well to direct artificial dressing and indirectly benefit by the dunging of the forage crops. In the Norfolk four-course rotation, barley or oats follows a root crop — ^just as wheat follows clover, peas, or beans. It is undoubtedly wise to give dung fairly liberally to the root crops, but how far this benefits the spring corn crop that follows will depend on the destination of the roots. If we have a turnip crop fed off the land by sheep, especially with a fair allowance of cake, we sow our spring corn in a very richly manured bed, and on some soils we have no need of further nitrogenous manure, especially if the crop be barley, for the best quality of malting barley cannot be grown on land that is over-manured. In this case, if cake has been given to the root-consuming sheep, a dressing of two cwts. of superphosphate per acre (or four cwts. basic slag if the land is poor in lime), may act as a corrective, but no nitrogenous top-dressing D So PEMTiLl5ERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. should be given. In the case of oats we may be less scrupulous, for we chiefly require quantity, and, even after cake-fed roots, one cwt. of nitrate of soda should be used in addition to a dressing of phosphates. If, however, the root crop has been drawn off the field, — as is commonly the case with mangolds and on land generally that won't carry sheep well in the winter, — the case is different. We must treat the spring corn fairly liberally with artificials. It should be sown with phosphatic manure — three to four cwts. per acre of superphosphate or dissolved bones on soils containing a suiificiency of lime, or on soils deficient in lime, four to six cwts. per acre of basic slag, or three to four ewts. per acre phosphatic Peruvian guano. Half-a-cwt. of nitrate of soda may be put on directly after sowing, or as soon as the crop is up, another half-cwt. a few weeks later, and at discretion a further dressing of from half-cwt. to one cwt. per acre. The nitrate may be used more freely for oats than for barley, but the quantity that the crop can fairly take depends on season as well as on soil, and for this reason the writer generally advises the division of the nitrate dressing into two or three portions. The total dressing can then be restricted or enlarged as seems desirable. On some light lands barley is much benefited by one cwt. per acre of muriate of potash or three or four cwts. of kainit, put on at seed-time with the phosphates. The best malting barley cannot be grown under the immediate effects of heavy dunging ; and therefore if the soil is deficient in potash, this constituent, which is abundant in dung, is necessary. APPLICATION OF FERTILISERS. 51 Both barley and oats are frequently grown as a second corn crop — generally after wheat. On some rich land the very best malting barley is thus grown without any manure, the preceding wheat crop having been manured ; but this is probably an exceptional state of things. Barley or oats after wheat may gene- rally be treated much as we have advised in the case of their being grown after carted-off roots. The lowness of the price of all our corn crops at the present time makes it desirable for the individual farmer to increase, not his acreage, but his average yield per acre ; and the extended use of artificial manures, especially of nitrate of soda, will often enable him to grow much more than he is aware his land will produce. It is desirable, however, to give the caution that unless we use phosphatic manures, or unless (as we have seen is often the case in wheat growing) the plant has a sufficient balance of mineral food from the previous manuring, the use of nitrate is apt to produce too much straw and too little grain ; but used as has been recommended in the foregoing paragraphs, it will be found to give a good sound crop of grain, as well as an increased yield of straw, and at a very moderate outlay. Sulphate of ammonia may replace nitrate of soda, if put on somewhat earlier ; but when dearer than nitrate, is not to be recommended, except in such parts of the country as have a normally wet climate. Turnips (including Swedes). The turnip crop is generally dunged. It is quite possible to grow very heavy and excellent turnips 52 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. without any dung at all ; but it is not, as a rule, desirable to attempt this. The mere food required by the crop can be easily supplied by artificials ; but a moderate dunging affects the temperature and moisture-holding power of the land at a time when these considerations may be very important to the crop — viz., the time between germination and singling out. It is then that the plant is most subject to its enemies — whether insect pests or adverse elements, — and under trying conditions a dunged field of young roots will sometimes pull through when an undunged one would fail. At the same time, it is a mistake to over-dung — simply because it is wasteful. About ten tons of dung is to be regarded, generally speaking, as a pretty heavy dunging for turnips. Less will generally suffice. But what is essential, unless we use exceptionally large dressings of dung, is a dressing of phosphatic manure, put in with or under the seed. A vast accumulation of experience shows that turnips, and their relatives the cabbages, require a strong and ;arly dose of phosphates in their young stages. On soils containing a fair quantity of lime, the cheapest form of phosphate to use is superphosphate. On light soils dissolved bone compounds or dissolved bones may be preferable, especially if the dunging has been light. On soils poor in lime basic slag may be used, or " basic superphosphate " ; or if the soil is light, fine bone dust or phosphatic Peruvian guano, or an intimate mixture of bone dust and superphosphate in equal parts. The quantity of phosphatic fertiliser to be sown APPLICATION OF FERTILISERS. 53 with turnips varies according to climate. In the South of England, when superphosphate is used, about three or four cwts. per acre are usually found sufficient. As we go north, the dressings in vogue become larger and larger- In the Midlands we find five or six cwts. per acre used ; farther north, eight or ten cwts. per acre ; while in Scotland we reach ten to twelve cwts. per acre, and even more is sometimes put on. If basic slag is employed to replace superphosphate for turnips, at least half as much again by weight should be used ; and so also with bone dust, which should be always, especially for this crop, finely ground. Of guano in like substitution about an equal weight may be applied. Whilst turnips are exceedingly responsive to arti- ficial supplies of phosphates, they do not, as a rule, show much gratitude for nitrogenous manure. If they are grown without any dung at all, two cwts. of nitrate of soda may be given as top dressing. But if a moderate dressing of dung has been given, one cwt. of nitrate of soda is the outside dressing which will generally benefit them. If the dunging has been reasonably liberal, however, this is unnecessary. On certain light lands potash — say four to six cwts. per acre of kainit, or i to \\ cwt. of sulphate or muriate of potash — is found a useful addition to a turnip manure, but it is generally superfluous. Cabbages. We mention these next because they are intimately related to turnips, and in their early stages require like treatment. But we grow the turnip for its roots, 54 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. and the cabbage for its leaf ; and the treatment that would produce the best cabbages would produce a poor turnip over-weighted with a luxuriant top. Cabbages must be liberally treated with phosphates, on the same lines as turnips, but they should be much more heavily dunged. Nitrate of soda should be liberally supplied to them in several successive doses a few weeks apart from one another, as much as four cwts. per acre being greedily and responsively taken up, and 6 cwts. will give even better results. Salt is an excellent addition on many soils to the extent of 5 cwts. per acre. A few cwts. of fish guano may be added to the phosphatic dressing at seed-time. Excellent results are obtained from Peruvian guano and salt, with subsequent dressing of nitrate. Many practical farmers are unaware to what a heavy weight a crop of drumhead cabbages may be economically increased by the lavish and judicious use of artificial fertilisers. Mangolds. The mangold crop, although occupying on the farm an alternative position with turnips, and generally classed with the latter, is an altogether different crop both in its botanical relationships and in its habit of life and its requirements. Turnips require a fairly light, or at any rate a fairly open soil, to come to perfection, and therefore they do not grow well on stiff clay land. Furthermore, they flourish well on very shallow soils. Mangolds, on the other hand, seem always to do better on heavy soils ; and, being deep-rooting plants, require a considerable depth of soil if they are to APPLICATION OF FERTILISERS. 55 become luxuriant. The turnip does not seem to have the power to seek its food very far. The mangold produces an immense mass of fine rootlets that extend downwards to the subsoil and upwards to the surface to a considerable distance from the plant. Excellent crops of mangolds have been grown under the eye of the writer without dung, by the free use of artificials ; and if one could predict the seasons, this would without doubt be the cheapest way to grow them. But the mangold plant, like the turnip, goes through a very precarious time between the germination of the seed and the time of singling out, and during this period a dunged crop is safer. One dry spring, during which the seed-leaf state of the young plant was unduly prolonged through lack of rain, an attack of grub came to aggravate the troubles of the struggling crop. On the experimental field of the Essex Agricultural Society, several portions of the ground were dunged and several not dunged — the plots being arranged roughly in chessboard fashion. The result was, that although the undunged plots were well manured with artificials, the plant nearly all disappeared, while on the dunged plots we obtained a very respectable crop of mangolds. This experience — a few years ago — has led the writer to advise farmers not to grow mangolds without dung. Too much dung, however, is wasteful. About "half a dressing" only should be given. "Haifa dressing" varies as an absolute quantity according to the soil and climate. By this term is meant half the quantity, that, in ordinary agricultural practice, on a given farm, is necessary to make the land do its best. Often 'this S6 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. " half dressing " will be five to ten tons per acre ; in some northerly districts more. To use a full dressing is an uneconomical proceeding, as artificials will do all else that is required. The writer has had a some- what intimate personal experience of the growth of mangolds, this crop having formed the subject of many years' experiments by Mr Rosling and himself under the auspices of the Essex Agricultural Society. The general result of these experiments has been to demonstrate the very great value of nitrate of soda as a mangold manure, used in what would perhaps have been previously considered lavish quantities. When only a small dressing of dung is given, as much as four cwts. per acre of nitrate of soda may adv&ntageously be put on to mangolds, one cwt. being sown with the seed, one cwt. after singling out, and the remaining two cwts. in two subsequent top-dressings at successive intervals of a few weeks. In this way the plant is fed continuously and not over-stimulated in its young state. Even with a tolerably heavy dressing (a " full dressing") of dung, two cwts. of nitrate will often yield a good deal more than dung alone would produce, and in this case nitrate should be the only artificial. In cases where, as the writer recommends, half a dressing of dung only is used, it is well to apply phosphatic manure also, though it is a remarkable fact (owing, possibly, to the greater root development in mangolds) that mangolds are far less dependent on the artificial supply of phosphates than are turnips. The writer knows farms in high condition on which phosphates as a special application for mangolds are quite useless. Nevertheless, if but a moderate appli- APPLICATION OF FERTILISERS. 57 cation of dung has been made, it is desirable not to risk a scarcity of readily available phosphatic food, since, if the soil or manure fails to provide this, the nitrate cannot do its work ; and while nitrate is a tolerably expensive fertiliser, the value of which must not be risked, phosphates are very cheap. They should be sown or drilled in under the seed. Three to six cwts. of superphosphate may be used on soils rich in lime ; and on soils poor in lime, about half as much again of basic slag or fine bone-meal ; or an equal weight of phosphatic Peruvian guano. If high-class dissolved Peruvian guano, or " equalised " Peruvian guano, be used as a source of phosphates, nitrate need not be sown with it, but only used as top-dressings, as above directed. The writer has grown good and remunerative crops of mangolds, in the absence of any dung, with six cwts. of cheap Peruvian guano, and four cwts. nitrate of soda per acre ; but, for reasons already given, it is wiser not to dispense altogether with dung. Phosphatic manure as an addition to nitrate, even in the presence of dung, has been observed, in the Essex experimental trials, to produce a good effect even when it did not materially raise the weight of the crop, viz., by helping it to " ripen " off more rapidly. It seems to hasten or intensify the growth of the root, and get it over more quickly than when dung and nitrate only are used. Salt in some districts has been proved very bene- ficial to mangolds, in quantities of from two cwts. up to ten cwts. per acre. But in some districts it does harm, even in small quantities, by " panning " the land. It is a matter for local experience to decide, and every S8 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. grower of mangolds should try a few cwts. of salt on an odd acre, and watch the effect for future guidance, if he has never tried it. The ancestor of the mangold is a wild plant whose native habitat is the seashore. It is frequently stated that the growth of heavy root-crops by the copious use of nitrate of soda is a mistake, since the roots, though heavier, are so only in virtue of being swollen with extra water. This may be true in the case of turnips, which are easily over-manured with nitrogen. But the gain in the weight of the mangold crop by dressings of nitrate used with discretion and with a proper accompani- ment of other manure, as above laid down, is not due merely to water. For some years, roots from all the Essex experimental plots were carefully analysed, and no such ill-effect was discovered in the composi- tion or quality of the heavier crops. The Rothamsted experiments have demonstrated that potash is a very essential constituent of plant food for the ripening of mangolds, and on light soils one cwt. of sulphate of potash or four cwt. of kainit per acre should be given. But on most fairly heavy land, where dung is given to the mangolds, potash will be unnecessary as a special application. Potatoes. The potato-yielding capability of a soil probably depends more on its mechanical condition than on anything else, except, of course, climate. A point is easily reached apparently on every soil beyond which manuring lor potatoes is of no use. On some soils a APPLICATION OF FERTILISERS. 59 very moderate manuring is enough ; on others three or four times as much will pay. This does not seem to have to do so much with the richness of the soil as with its warmth, good drainage, and soft, crumbly texture. Nothing, therefore, is more difficult than to give general directions for manuring a potato crop. The rainfall is almost a greater element in potato growing than is the soil, and our system of manur- ing would, if we could predict the season, be very different in a wet season from that pursued in a dry one. But as we cannot predict the rainfall, we must manure so as to give the best all-round chance of success. It is probably a mistake to use too much dung for potatoes. Too much dung produces an over-luxuri- ance of life, which in some way seems to make the crop more subject to attacks of disease ; and no crop is more liable to be affected by disease than this one. Our general advice would therefore be in all cases, if you dung, dung but moderately, and rather for the sake of maintaining the warm moisture-holding pro- perties of the soil than for the sake of merely feeding the plant. Potatoes feed well and healthily on arti- ficials. Peaty soils, which grow excellent potatoes, if properly treated, should be from time to time well limed. The use of lime (where required) to correct " sourness,'' and the moderate use of dung to keep up a good mechanical condition, are both desirable for a potato field. If, however, potatoes follow another crop which has been well dunged, it is often undesirable to dung them directly. Potash has been alluded to as an artificial fertiliser 6o FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. often very useful for potatoes. On the peat soils of Ireland it has produced wonderful results ; and on a great many light soils in this country, and on fen lands, it has been found to yield admirable effects. Perhaps the best way to apply potash is to sow the land with some four to six cwts. of kainit during the winter or early spring, before the land is " prepared," so as to enable the potash to become thoroughly incorporated with the soil. Failing this, let one cwt. or one and a half cwt. of sulphate of potash be mixed with other artificials, and placed beneath the sets. Phosphatic manure and nitrogenous manure must both be applied, and almost every large potato grower has his own special scheme of manuring. As phos- phatic manure, from three to six cwts. of superphos- phate or dissolved, bones may be used on soils contain- ing a due quantity of lime ; on soils poor in lime the same quantity of phosphatic Peruvian guano, or about half as much again of basic slag or fine bone meal or " basic superphosphate." Nitrogen may be given as sulphate of ammonia, or as nitrate of soda. For early crops it is best for the farmer to rely altogether on these, or on Peruvian guano, artificial guanos, or prepared fertilisers con- taining ammonia salts, rather than on such slow nitrogenous manures as market gardeners use. The market gardener is perpetually manuring with bulky, slow manures, and relies largely for his present crop on the manure applied a year before, while much of the manure he uses now is really for the future. The ordinary farmer is in a different position, and should APPLICATION OF, FERTILISERS. 6i seek for prompt action in the artificial fertilisers he uses. For an early potato crop, therefore, he should use only soluble quickly acting forms of nitrogen. But for a reasonably late variety of potato, he may well use a few cwts. of rape dust or fish guano (choosing a make containing but little oil) to start with, if he lives in a fairly moist climate, and if he can plant early. If basic slag is used, sulphate of ammonia should not be mixed with it, but nitrate of soda employed instead. With all other phosphatic manures, sulphate of ammonia (i to 2 cwts.) may be mixed, and the manure sown in the furrows. This quantity of nitrogenous manure, however, will in a good growing season be insufficient (on the assumption that only a small dressing of dung has been given), and it should therefore be supplemented by further dressings of nitrate of soda, or sulphate of ammonia, applied as top-dressings after the haulm is up. From one to two such dressings may be given, either of sulphate of ammonia or of nitrate of soda — one cwt. each time. The latter fertiliser seems to commend itself as the more suitable for top- dressings, and should be preferred except in very wet districts. As it is possible to over-manure potatoes with nitro- genous manure, discretion must be used ; and oppor- tunity for exercising this is afforded by applying, as we have suggested, a portion only of the nitrogenous manure in the first stage, keeping the rest over for top-dressings, which can be given or withheld as may 62 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. seem most desirable from observation of the progress of the plant's growth. The present writer has very successfully used as much as six cwts. of nitrate of soda per acre on potatoes. Leguminous Crops. These include clover, trifolium, peas, beans, vetches, sainfoin, lucerne, &c. The special feature in the growth of most of these crops is that they often give little return for direct applications of nitrogenous manure, being largely able, by means of a special provision which cannot be here discussed, to obtain through their roots large quantities of nitrogenous food from the free nitrogen of the air. The only artificial fertilisers that need generally be used for them in rotation farming are phosphates, and on some soils potash. On clay soils potash is rarely necessary as a special application. On light land the effect of potash salts should always be experimentally tried. On soils lacking in lime, all these crops are benefited by gypsum (sulphate of lime). As this is a very cheap manure, the effect of a half- ton per acre may be tried and noted when there is reason to suspect poverty in lime. Generally speaking, however, the best manure for all these leguminous crops is dung, and a large share of the dung available on the farm should always be devoted to them, since its place cannot, as experience has shown, be taken by artificials to anything like the same extent as in the case of other farm crops. Let APPLICATION OF FERTILISERS. 63 them be liberally dunged, the residue of the excess of dung remaining for the benefit of their successors. Superphosphate or basic slag— three to five cwts. of the former, or five to eight cwts. of the latter, in addition to the dung — will generally do good, and can do no harm. Nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia, however, have been both proved to be valuable adjuncts in the manuring of lucerne and sainfoin, especially nitrate of soda, which latter has also proved useful for P'rench beans in market garden culture. Rotation Grasses. When clover is grown in admixture with Italian rye-grass, nitrate of soda to the extent of two cwts. to three cwts. per acre should be given to encourage the growth of the rye-grass, which is especially responsive to this fertiliser. When mixed rotation grasses are put down for a two, three, or four years' lay, they should be well manured with artificials each year. A few cwts. of superphosphate, or such phosphatic substitutes as have been frequently alluded to, should be sown in the autumn, and nitrate of soda freely used as top-dress- ings in the spring. In permanent pasture we have to manure much more cautiously, as we have to maintain the growth of the more delicate permanent grasses, and must not risk crowding them out by overfeeding the coarse and more greedy varieties. But the grasses used in rotation mixtures of seed may be 64 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. heavily fed, as our only object is to raise as large a quantity of green stuff as we can for two or three, or perhaps four seasons, after which the land is again brought under the plough. Two or three, or even four, cwts, of nitrate of soda may often be applied to these temporary grass lays with very remunerative effect. The judgment of the individual farmer, and the knowledge of his own soil and climate, must, of course, come in to regulate the dressing, but many farmers who have never tried it would be surprised to see what heavy crops they can obtain by such liberal top-dressings. Permanent Pasture, or meadow land, on the other hand, must be much more carefully handled. No doubt the best way to keep up a fine condition of permanent grass land is to autumn graze it with animals liberally supplied with cake — preferably decorticated cotton cake — which yields animal excreta especially rich in nitro- gen. This is by far the most gentle and efficacious means of supplying permanent grass land with its nitrogen. Phosphates, however, should be supplied in addition, and are perhaps best put on in the autumn. Bone dust, which is a very favourite manure for grass land, should always be applied in autumn rather than spring — four or five cwts. per acre being a fair dressing. If the phosphates are applied in spring, superphosphate or dissolved bones, or dissolved guano, should be used in preference to bone dust, but even APPLICATION OF FERTILISERS. 64A these may be put on in late autumn or winter without disadvantage. Phosphatic Peruvian guano is an excel- lent substitute for bone dust as a source of phosphates for grass land, and so is basic slag, either of which is preferable to superphosphate on soils poor in lime. On such soils basic slag has been found to greatly encourage the clover in the pasture. Grass land, however, that is lacking in lime, generally pays for direct chalking or liming. If the land is not cake-grazed or heavily dunged, it may also be cautiously top-dressed in spring with nitrogenous manure — either nitrate of soda or sul- phate of ammonia. From one to two cwts., however, of either of these strong manures is generally sufficient. More than two cwts. per acre may unduly encourage the coarser grasses, and injure the permanent quality of the turf On strong land potash is generally un- necessary as an artificial dressing ; but on light lands and on peaty or fenny lands, it is always desirable, if the farmer has never tried it, to sow a strip of pasture land in autumn with five or six cwts. of kainit, or one cwt. to one and a half cwt. of sulphate of potash per acre, and to observe the effect next year. If the soil is poor in potash, this will be seen not only to improve the quality of the grass, but to specially encourage the growth of the clovers, — white clover, and various other trefoils, — which are so valuable in providing a good bottom growth after the main crop is cut for hay. Hops and Market Garden Crops. The manuring of hops and of market garden crops cannot be entered on here. They are fully discussed E 64B FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS in two separate little treatises by the author, "The Manuring of Market Garden Crops " and " The Manur- ing of Hops," published by Messrs Vinton & Co., Ltd., of 9 New Bridge Street, Ludgate Circus, London, E.C, CHAPTER V. PURCHASED FEEDING STUFFS. As the use of purchased or artificial fertilisers supple- ments and ekes out our farmyard manures, so the use of purchased feeding stuffs supplements and ekes out home-grown fodder. Up to a certain point purchased fertilisers and purchased feeding stuffs may take each other's places, for the generous use of artificial fertilisers enables us to largely increase our production of hay, corn, straw, roots, cabbages, vetches, &c., and so to increase the number of stock the farm will carry. On the other hand, by a free expenditure in cake, we can, while feeding more stock, add greatly to our dung and its value, and in this way indirectly raise the size of our crops. Some farmers have heavy manure bills and light cake bills, while others buy very large quantities of cake and not much manure, beyond, perhaps, superphosphate. No doubt the best and most economical system of farming involves a liberal purchase of both fertilisers and feeding stuffs. With the former and their uses we have already dealt. We have now to deal with the choice and the use of the latter. In the first place let it be said that, just as a great 66 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. deal of our land fails to grow anything like what it might grow, owing to the want of proper and sufficient manure, so many of our farms fail to provide for a good head of stock or to maintain it properly, through want of enough purchased feeding stuffs. The farm chiefly grows moist and bulky foods. These are absolutely necessary for large-stomached grass-eating animals, but generally speaking they do not fatten fast enough by themselves. In fattening, especially, it should always be borne in mind that an animal consumes a daily quantity of food merely to keep itself alive and warm. It is only the food which it digests beyond the mere daily requirement for life and warmth that increases its weight ; and it is only on this part of the food that the farmer makes any profit. If two animals are put up to fatten side by side, one on high diet and one on low, so that one fattens in three months and the other in four, the latter will have lived a month longer, and will have consumed during the time a large portion of food for mere maintenance, which portion is wasted. Even rapidity of fattening (" early maturity ") may of course be purchased at too great a cost ; but if every stock-feeder bore in mind that every week taken off the fattening period saves a week's maintenance, greater attention would be paid to the more liberal use of cake or corn. Bearing this in mind, then, we see that it is gene- rally wise in principle to add to even good hay and roots an allowance of stronger food. But when hay and roots are poor and scarce, as they always are after a severe drought, artificial PURCHASED FEEDING STVEES. 67 feeding stuffs are no longer merely desirable, but absolutely necessary ; and their proper use enables a great many farmers, who could not otherwise do so, to keep stock alive, and even to fatten them. This is especially possible for those who realise the feeding value of straw chaff. Even in times of plenty, the increased use of straw for feeding purposes, ren- dered economically possible only by the use of purchased feeding stuffs, would help to maintain a much larger head of stock than the country now supports. The introduction of peat-moss litter renders the consumption of straw for bedding no longer imperative. Straw when chaffed, salted, and soaked, and allowed to heat or ferment for a little time, is by no means unpalatable to stock, particularly if some cattle spice be sprinkled in it and a little treacle dissolved in the water in which it is soaked. If wet brewers' grains can be had, or malt dust, a little of either or both " strengthens " the mass and renders it more palatable, even if sufficient cannot be spared to add much to the bulk. Such a fodder of softened straw will fill beasts, and they will eat it gratefully. But in itself it is an insufficient diet, chiefly because it is particularly poor in the " albuminoid " or nitrogenous constituents which are as necessary to the animal as nitrogen is to plants. If, while allowing the animal to fill itself with the prepared straw chaff we give it a due allowance of cake, or of cake and meal, we provide a diet on which beasts can thrive. It is not merely the extra food supplied in the cake or meal that does good, but the presence in the cake of the albuminoid or nitro- 68 MRTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. genous food which balances the excess of the non- nitrogenous food in the straw. It is most important for the farmer who wishes to make the best use of feeding stuffs to realise that the majority of the natural bulky foods of the farm, except clover and very good meadow grass or hay, are poor in albuminoids (generally called "flesh-forming" or " muscle-forming " matters). Roots of all kinds, cab- bages and their kind, and straw, are all very poor in albuminoids, though they abound in sugar, digestible fibre, mucilage, &c., substances which, together with starch, are known to the chemist as " soluble carbo- hydrates." Straw, perhaps, cannot be said to " abound " in such useful substances, as it is largely made up of woody fibre ; but the digestible portion of it is chiefly composed of these substances and is almost lacking in albuminoids — much more so even than roots. Sugar, starch, mucilage, and likewise oil, keep up the animal heat, and produce fat and the power of motion, but they can only do so in company with a proper pro- portion of albuminoids. If this is not supplied, much of the feeding value of the roots and straw is simply wasted. It is therefore urgent that the farmer should choose, for strengthening a diet in which roots and straw play the chief part, a food rich in albuminoids — and that he should give plenty of it. If he is feeding on roots and an abundance of hay, it is still necessary to supply artificial food, but it is not so important to choose a food specially rich in albuminoids or to give so much of it as should be given when straw replaces hay. When barley, wheat, or oats forms a part of the farm-grown rations, the PURCHASED FEEDING STUFFS. 69 farmer is rendered still more free in his choice of outside foods, and much more so if the farm contributes beans or peas to the feeding trough. Before giving a list of purchased foods, divided into three classes according to their being rich, moderate, or poor in the matter of albuminoids, it should be pointed out that the choice of purchased foods according to their richness in albuminoids should be influenced by still other considerations than the general ones already mentioned. Albuminoids are absolutely necessary for the build- ing up of muscle, bone, and tendon, for the production of calves, and for making the curd of milk. It is therefore obvious that a liberal supply of albuminoids is highly essential in the case of young and rapidly growing animals and in the case of milch cows. The animal that is fattening off is more independent, as it has no more muscle, tendon, or bone to grow ; it has only to store up fat and to supply the small daily nitrogen waste due to mere living : but, even in this case, the supply of food rich in albuminoids becomes, as we have seen, a necessary economy when the main bulk of the fodder given, as in the case of roots and straw chaff, is poor in albuminoids. The value of a little cake or other concentrated food as a "balance" to succulent, watery food, rich in " carbo-hydrates " (sugar, &c.), but poor in nitrogen, is particularly well seen in the case of sheep feeding in the turnip field. The artificial food is in such a case valuable for two reasons. If the sheep eat sufficient roots to satisfy all their wants in cold wintry weather, they take in too much water, and a great 70 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. deal of the actual feeding matter of the turnips is " burnt " up or spent in the blood of the animals in warming up this water. If a little cake is given the sheep will eat fewer turnips, but will waste less food in making heat. They will, moreover, by the aid of the albuminoids in the cake, turn to far better account the sugar of the roots, which are themselves too poor in albuminoids. Many farmers never give their dairy cows any cake while grazing, provided there is grass enough to satisfy their appetites. As a rule this is a mistaken policy. When the young grass is in the flush of its growth it is probably generally unnecessary to give cake, except sometimes a little common or undecorticated (" English ") cotton cake to correct any tendency to "scouring." But except for the few weeks of the most luxuriant growth, grass contains insufficient albuminoids in proportion to the other materials of which it is made up to be a wholly satisfactory food for a cow that has to build up a young calf and to produce an abundance of milk rich in curd. In order that the full feeding value of the sweet juices of the grass shall be most economically turned into calf and milk by the cow, it is necessary on most pastures to give her a little cake — say two pounds per day of decorticated cotton cake. It is not suggested that cows on grass alone will not give their utmost yield of milk, but only that, as a rule, they will not give it economically. If they are giving their full milk on grass alone, then a small allowance of cake would be found to enable the same field to carry more cows in full milk. But very often both the yield and quality PURCHASED FEEDING STUFFS. 71 of milk will be found to increase by the use of a little cake. The need for this is of course much greater in aftermath or autumn grazing ; but, while this is generally recognised, many dairy farmers quite ignore the advantage of the moderate summer caking of grazing cows. After these examples on the general functions of artificial feeding stuffs, we proceed to give the reader a few hints as to their choice and purchase. First of all, however, the wish may be expressed that those who are not versed in chemistry would read over once again the foregoing portion of this chapter. In it the writer has endeavoured to condense and to express some facts in the chemistry of cattle feeding that are of deeply urgent practical importance ; and it is to be trusted that their statement, though necessarily short, has been plain. The reader in whom any observations here made may awaken a desire to learn something more of the many interesting facts of the chemistry of food, scientifically as well as practically considered, may consult Prof R. Warington's " Chemistry of the Farm " ; while a somewhat more popular dissertation on the chemistry of cattle food, partly from the pen of the present writer, will be found in Book X., Chap- ter 5, of Dr Fream's new edition of the "Complete Grazier." The following is a short classification of well-known " purchased " feeding stuffs : — Very Rich in Albuminoids. Decorticated cotton cake and ground-nut, or earth- nut cake (45 to 50 per cent.). 72 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. Rich in Albuminoids. Linseed cake and rape cake (25 to 35 per cent.). Moderately Rich in Albuminoids. English (undecorticated) cotton cake, dried brewers' grains, malt dust, beans and peas (20 to 25 per cent.). Poor in Albuminoids. Wheat, oats, rye, barley, maize, rice-meal, bran, pollards, millet, American flour, &c. (10 to 15 per cent.). Manorial Value. It may be here conveniently stated that the value of the manure produced by feeding these various materials is according to the albuminoids in them, since it is the nitrogen contained in the albuminoids that yields nitrogen or " ammonia " in the manure. Decorticated Cotton Cake and Ground-Nut Cake. The best qualities of decorticated cotton cake are fairly soft and break easily. The cake should be free from hard lumps, and the taste should be sweet and fresh. Ground-nut cake is at present only imported in limited quantities. It is very like decorticated cotton cake in all its essential properties, and may be used in place of it where a food rich in albuminoids is desired. Either is excellent food for milking cows. Decorti- PURCHASED PEEDING STUPPS. 73 cated cotton cake has for many years been under- valued in this country. Its excessive richness in albuminoids (45 to 50 per cent.) renders it unwise to give it to calves and lambs, and the many cases of indigestion arising from its improper use for young stock are responsible for some degree of prejudice against it. It is very valuable for all adult stock — the best way to give it to fattening animals being probably with an equal weight of maize or barley meal, wheat-meal, or American flour. The percentage of oil commonly varies from about 8 in hard cakes to about 14 in good soft cakes. Linseed Cake. Linseed cake is the most popular of all purchased foods, and is good for stock of almost every age and kind. It is often known to farmers as " oil-cake," but this latter name is largely used in the trade for mixed or impure linseed cakes, the name linseed cake being frequently reserved only for pure cakes. When a farmer wants linseed cake he should order it by name and see that it is invoiced to him as linseed cake. If it is so invoiced the vendor is bound under legal penalty to supply a pure cake, unless he specially states on his invoice that the cake is made from other seed than linseed.* If " oil-cake " only is ordered or invoiced, it may contain anything. " Oil-cakes '' made from linseed containing admixtures of other seeds are often good foods and of good value for their money ; but frequently they are largely composed of the screenings and sweepings from the cleaning of the * See Appendix, p. 91. 74 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. seed used to make pure cake, and may, indeed, as we have said, contain anything. If such cakes are pur- chased, it should be cautiously. Even pure linseed cakes vary greatly in quality, some being very thin and so hard-pressed that they contain only S or 6 per cent, of oil, while others some- times contain as much as 15 per cent, and upwards. There is no doubt that a cake rich in oil is more valuable as a feeding stuff than one poor in oil, though the advantage may, of course, be sometimes bought too dearly. The percentage of albuminoids commonly ranges from about 25 to 35 according to the seed used. The mode of comparing the real feeding value of different cakes with their market prices will, however, be dealt with later. Rape Cake. Rape cake for feeding purposes should be free from mustard seed. If it is powdered and mixed to a paste with cold water, put into a corked bottle (cork tied down), and kept for a few hours in a warm place, it should fairly retain its original mild taste. If mustard is present, it will taste hot or pungent and make the eyes water. Such a cake should be re- jected. On some farms in England, and largely on the Continent, rape cake is a favourite food for sheep. Undecorticated (Common or "English") Cotton Cake. We have already referred to this cake as being useful to prevent scouring in cows grazing on over- PURCHASED FEEDING STUFFS. 75 luxuriant pasture. It is very largely used, however, for stall-fed stock and for sheep. It is generally made from Egyptian cotton seed, and contains all the husks of the seed. American or decorticated cotton cake is nearly free from husks. While the latter contains 45 to 50 per cent, of albuminoids, the " English " or unde- corticated cotton cake contains only half that quan- tity, and therefore goes only half as far when the object is to supply albuminoids. For general purposes, however, three tons of it will probably go nearly as far as two tons of the decorticated cotton cake. Care should be taken, as, indeed, in the case of all cakes, to see that the cotton cake is in good condition and free from mouldiness or rancid taste. If cake — especially cotton cake — is to be stored long, it should be dry. Damp cake "heats" readily and gets mouldy, and may then be the cause of injury to stock. Cotton cake should be fairly free from cotton wool or fibre, an excess of which is bad, since it is apt to accumu- late and form balls or obstructions in the intestines. Too much stress should not be laid on the colour. The writer often examines quite brown cakes that are as good in condition as many bright green-yellow ones. Dried Brewers' Grains. These are rather better in feeding value than undecorticated cotton cake. Until comparatively lately farmers have neglected this food too much, not realising its utility. Consequently it used to sell considerably under its real value. In the general demand for food consequent on scarcity of hay in 76 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. some recent seasons, however, there came a run on dried grains, with the result that many who tried them have kept up their use, so that the price has appreciably risen. We shall presently show how the farmer may approximately gauge the relative real food value of feeding stuffs as compared with their prices. Beans and Peas Contain, like English cotton cake, from 20 to 25 per cent, of albuminoids. They are, in the form oi meal, a favourite form of strong food for milch cows. The demand for beans for horse food, however, and that for pea-meal for cow-keepers, sometimes renders these foods rather too dear in comparison with cakes for cattle fattening and sheep feeding. Corn Feeds. Although wheat used not to be regarded as cattle food, its low price nowadays sometimes makes it better policy to use it than to sell it. Whether this can be profitably done depends, of course, on the price of cake and other foods in the market, as well as on the price of wheat itself The farmer would do unwisely to consume wheat when he can buy in the market low grade American flour and pay carriage on it to the farm, for less money than he can get for his wheat, seeing that this flour will go practically as far in fatten- ing as wheat will. Wheat has, however, in some recent years touched average prices at which it could not be profitably exchanged even for cheap American flour. PURCHASED FEEDING STUFFS. 77 Nevertheless, the latter is a food that is worth keeping an eye on. The practical parts played by barley, oats, and maize as feeding stuffs are too well known to require our spending space on them here ; but it is well again to point out that, like wheat, they are all very poor in "albuminoids," containing only about 10 or 12 per cent. They cannot replace cake in the straw diets of which we have already spoken, though they are all good foods for fattening off with hay and roots. If, however, they form a leading item in a straw, or straw and roots diet, without hay, or with but little hay, decorticated cotton cake should be given in quantity, equal to the maize, barley, or wheat. Probably for most purposes it is economical to supplement these foods with at least a little cake. The large supplies of Russian barley in the market are admittedly on one side injurious to the farmer, especially when the quality is good enough for malt. But, on the other hand, the cheaper kinds — and these form the great bulk of the imports — afford him a cheap and useful feeding meal. Rice Meal Varies in quality a good deal. It consists of the trimmings when rice is " dressed " into the state in which the grocer sells it. Good rice meal contains about 12 to 15 per cent, of albuminoids and often 12 to I S per cent, of oil. It is a very cheap food, and one that is by no means appreciated as it should be, which is. indeed, the cause of its low price. Its neglect is dilificult to account for, and the frequently low market value of good Rangoon rice-meal affords a 78 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. striking instance of the fact that the market prices of foods are often altogether independent of their actual feeding values. Spurious rice meal is sometimes offered consisting of or containing rice shudes — the outer chaff or husk of the rice grain — a hard, flinty, fibrous substance of very little value and very irritating to animals, as to eat it is like chewing sawdust. Bran and Pollard Contain somewhat more albuminoids than whole wheat-meal or barley-meal, but they belong distinctly to the class of food poor in albuminoids. Their use is too well understood to need comment. Bran has been lately largely adulterated with rice-shudes, oat- hulls, and coffee " parchment." Millet Meal Is a food belonging to the same class as maize or barley-meal, and is a good substitute for either. It may perhaps be said to be about as valuable as the low grade American flour already spoken of. CHAPTER VI. COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FOODS. We have not space to give detailed chemical analyses of the feeding stuffs we have mentioned, but most of them will be found by those who seek them in Prof R. Warington's little book, " The Chemistry of the Farm," and in various other text-books on agricultural chemistry. Of any special food or cake, the analysis can generally be supplied by the dealer, or there are now cheap and easy means for the farmer to get an analysis made for himself by the Chemist to his Agricultural Society or Club, or by the District Agricultural Analyst of his County. Where, however, the farmer is often at a loss is in understanding the practical meaning of a feeding stuff analysis. He sees in an analysis so many parts per lOO of moisture, so many of oil, so many of albumin- oids, so many of mucilage, starch, and sugar, so many of fibre, and so many of mineral matter. How is he to value all the figures so as to compare the feeding properties of one feeding stuff with those of another ? One linseed cake is rich in oil and poor in other ingredients, while another is very poor in oil, but, F 8o FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. perhaps, very rich in albuminoids. How is he to know whether their prices bear the same relation to each other that the analyses bear? This is a con- stantly recurring difficulty, and one about which the agricultural analyst has very frequent inquiries. The matter is to some extent complicated in text- books by considerations as to the digestibility of the various parts of foods ; but there is good reason to doubt the precise practical value of much that has been written on this head and of the experiments on which current statements are based — since probably in no two sets of circumstances will the same animal really digest the same proportion of any food, and probably no animal but a starving one would digest all of its food that is capable of digestion. In drawing up a simple code of directions to help farmers to judge roughly from their analyses of the cheapness of different foods offered, the question of digestibility has been here disregarded, not because it is unimportant, but because the writer believes that an attempt to consider it is likely to mislead, as well as to make calculations too complicated for general use. The form of calculation recommended is intended to take into account the practical manurial value of the food as well as its feeding value. It is taken for granted that, as is usually allowed, oil or fat is about two and a half times as useful in food as starch, sugar,, digestible fibre, or mucilage (" soluble carbo-hydrates," as these are generally called). It is also assumed that albuminoids are practically worth, to the farmer, two and a half times as much as starch. This view includes the manurial as well as feeding value. To COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FOODS. 8i put it otherwise, it is assumed that one pound of oil or fat or of albuminoids is worth to the farmer, for general feeding purposes, two and a half pounds of starch or sugar (or other " soluble carbo- hydrates "). We will now give the rule that the farmer is to observe when he wishes to compare the meaning of two analyses of feeding stuffs, which he has before him : — Rule. — Add together the percentage of oil and the percentage of albuminoids, and multiply by two and a half. To the figure thus obtained, add the per- centage of " mucilage, sugar, starch, &c." This gives the percentage of what may be called " food units " in each feeding stuff, and these percentages may then be compared. We will take an example. The analyses to be compared are those of three linseed cakes, of different kinds : — A. B. C. Moisture 11.32 12.41 9.17 rOil 14.36 10.05 7-20 X Albuminoids 27.42 28.50 34.08 iMucilage, &c 32.59 34.13 36.37 Woody Fibre 8.10 8.50 7.58 Mineral Matter 6.21 6.41 5.60 All the items are for the moment left unconsidered except those bracketed together. First " add together the percentages of oil and albuminoids, and multiply by two and a half." 82 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. A. Oil 14.36 Albuminoids 27.42 B. C. 10.06 7.20 28.50 34.08 41.78 38.56 41.28 ■Z\ 2i l\ 83.56 77.12 82.56 20.89 19-28 20.64 104.45 96.40 103.20 Mucilage, &c 32.59 34.13 36.37 "Units" 137.04 130.53 139.57 Neglecting the decimals, we find, then, that A yields 137 units, .5 130 units, and C 139 units. An easy arithmetical calculation makes it clear that, on this valuation, A is worth yfj of B, or lylcj oi B \ so that i ton of A is worth ixlir of a ton of B, or practically i ton i cwt. of B. These are cakes made from the same kind of seed, the difference of value lying in the greater quantity of oil left in A. If B cost £,"]. los. a ton, then A would be worth (on our reckoning) £,"]. 17s. 6d. per ton. In the case of C we have quite a different class of cake, made from seed richer in albuminoids and con- taining less fibre, and also less moisture than the others. Although, therefore, it is much poorer in oil, it is nevertheless more than correspondingly rich in other directions. Consequently it is of practically the same value as the rich cake, A, judged by units — though the more oily cake would fetch a good deal more in the market. At equal prices for A and C, however, one would not hesitate about choosing the COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FOODS. 83 more oily cake ; and for fattening sheep in winter one would be justiiied in paying a good deal more for it ; for an oily cake has been shown to possess for this purpose a special value, related, probably, to the effect of the oil on the texture of the fleece, and so indirectly on the general well-being of the sheep. Let us now take another example, and compare the value of samples of wheat and, say, rice meal. ^A^leat. Rice MeaL Moisture 12.30 8.27 / Oil 1.80 13.60 < Albuminoids 11.70 12.69 ( Starch, Mucilage, &c. 70.10 52.13 Fibre 2.40 4.81 Ash 1.70 8.50 Then, as before, we add together the oil and albu- minoids, multiply by two and a half, and add the starch, mucilage, &c. Wheat. Rice MeaL 1. 80 13.60 11.70 12.69 13.50 26.29 ■2.\ 25 27.00 52.58 6.75 1.3- 14 33.75 65.72 70.10 52.13 "Units" 103.85 117.85 Taking round numbers, the " unit " values are 104 84 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. for wheat, and Ii8 for rice meal, so that the rice meal is really worth some 12 per cent, more than wheat, although sold at a very much cheaper rate per ton. Now let us, as one more example, work out a sample of decorticated cotton cake, containing 12 per cent, oil, 46 of albuminoids, and 20 of mucilage, &c., neglecting decimal figures. Oil 12 Albuminoids ... 46 58 2* 116 29 I4S Mucilage, &c 20 "Units" i6s Here we see that decorticated cotton cake shows 165 " units " against 104 for wheat, or about 140 for high-class linseed cake. A ton of decorticated cotton cake is, therefore, worth one ton three and a half hundredweights good linseed cake, although its market price is actually less ton for ton. And it is worth one ton twelve hundredweights of wheat. It is, therefore, a very cheap food — low in price simply because its value is ill understood. It is to be again repeated here that our formula expresses the total intrinsic value — both as food, and as manure after it has passed through the animal. If proper care be not taken of the manure the full value of rich foods like decorticated cotton cake will not COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FOODS. 85 be realised. For this reason the calculation is most correctly applicable to foods of a similar class, in which the albuminoids (which give the chief manurial value^ are somewhat alike in quantity. But we must here turn back to what we have pre- viously said, and again point out that one food cannot replace another merely because it is cheaper. Coal and ironstone are both valuable, but one cannot take the place of the other merely because their relative prices go up and down. So we must not take a starchy feeding stuff, poor in albuminoids, to replace a highly albuminoid food when we are feeding on a mash of straw chaff and roots, or when we are feeding for milk, or pushing on young stock. But for fattening cattle on a liberal diet of clover hay and roots we can use very much what class of food we like, and can make use of our rule to choose that which is intrinsi- cally cheapest, as long as we act within the limits of reason and experience. Lastly, let it be pointed out that the mere analysis of a food does not tell us everything, for whole- someness, condition, flavour, and palatability come into consideration, and these cannot be expressed in definite money values. Our formula for value-calculation is only good on the assumption that the food to be compared is sound and good, and is properly used. But the stock-keeper cannot too strongly take to heart the fact that the market prices of feeding stuffs bear necessarily no direct ratio whatever to their practical or intrinsic values, the most valuable foods being often low in price because their use is not 86 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. sufficiently known and appreciated to create a brisk demand for them, so that their supply is in excess of their consumption ; while foods of less intrinsic value are dear because they are well known and wMely used. APPENDIX. I. Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, WITH Notes . . . . .89 II. Regulations of the Board of Agriculture 100 III. Forms of Certificate of District Analyst, issued by the Board :— A. Certificate for Fertiliser where the Samples are not taken by the District Analyst . .110 B. Certificate for Fertiliser where the Samples are taken by the District Analyst . . . 112 C. Certificate for Feeding Stuff where the Samples are not taken by the District Analyst . 114 D. Certificate for Feeding Stuff where the Samples are taken by the District Analyst . . ii6 TABLE OF CASES. PAGE Betts ». Armitage , • • • • 93 Bridge v. Howard . • 97 Bristol Tramway Company v. Weston . 90 Coppen V. Moore . . 92 Filshie v. Evington . 96 Fortune v. Hanson • 97 Harrison v. Richards • 97 Hewitt V. Taylor • 97 Hoyle V. Hitchinson • 93 Korten v. West Sussex C.C. 92. 96, 97 Pain V. Broughtwood • 93 Queen v. J. J. Glamorganshire . 98 South Staffordshire Water Works Company ». S lone . 98 Westmore v. Paine . . 98 I.— FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS ACT, 1893. (56 AND 57 VICT., CHAP. 56.) An Act to amend the Law with respect to the Sale of Agricultural Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs. Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — Warranty I. — (i.) Every pcrson who sells for use as a fertiliser fffltlfeer. of the soil any article manufactured in the United Kingdom or imported from abroad shall give to the purchaser an invoice stating the name of the article and whether it is an artificially compounded article or not, and what is at least the percentage (i) of the nitrogen (2), soluble and insoluble (3) phosphates, and potash, if any, contained in the article, and this invoice shall have effect as a warranty by the seller of the statements contained therein. (2.) For the purposes of this section an article shall be deemed to be manufactured if it has been subjected to any artificial process. (3.) This section shall not apply to a sale where the whole amount sold at the same time weighs less than half-a-hundredweight. (i) For terms in which percentage of ingredients is usually expressed, see footnotes (12) and (13) to form B of the forms issued by the Board of Agriculture, p. 1 13. (2) Hitherto the trade custom appears to have been to guarantee in manures the percentage of ammonia to which the nitrogen was equivalent, and not that of the nitrogen itself. ACT, WITH NOTES. 89 Under this section, it is necessary to describe the minimum percentage of nitrogen as such. See page 29 as to nitrogen and ammonia. The equivalent proportion of ammonia might also be Stated. A seller should usually have little difiSculty in giving a sufficiently correct analysis. (3) Soluble and insoluble in water. {See sec. 8.) The soluble and insoluble phosphates should be given separately, unless where and for special and sufficient reason this is impracticable. 2. — (i.) Every person who sells for use as food for wan-anty cattle (4) any article which has been artificially prepared feldfng" shall give to the purchaser an invoice stating the name ""*^- of the article and whether it has been prepared from one substance or seed, or from more than one substance or seed, and this invoice shall have effect as a warranty by the seller of the statements contained therein (5). (2.) Where any article sold for use as food for cattle(4) is sold under a name or description implying that it is prepared from any particular substance, or from any two or more particular substances, or is the product of any particular seed, or of any two or more particular seeds, and without any indication that it is mixed or compounded with any other substance or seed, there shall be implied a warranty by the seller that it is pure, that is to say, is prepared from that substance or those substances only, or is a product of that seed or those seeds only. (3.) On the sale of any article for use as food for cattle there shall be implied a warranty by the seller that the article is suitable for feeding purposes. (4.) Any statement by the seller of the percentages of nutritive and other ingredients contained in any article sold for use as food for cattle, made after the commencement of this Act in an invoice of such article or in any circular or advertisement descriptive of such article, shall have effect as a warranty by the seller (6). (4) For definition, see sec. 8. 90. FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. (5) Care must be taken not to misdescribe feeding stuffs, and also not to misconstrue legitimate trade descriptions. For example, linseed cake, described as such, might be construed as meaning absolutely pure linseed cake ; whereas even such linseed cake, as in the trade is now usually accepted as pure, invariably contains a small quantity of natural impurity inci- dental to the growth and harvesting of the seed, and not wholly removable in the manufacturing of the cake, as distinguished from added material. A commonly recommended and largely accepted trade standard for purity is that of not more than 5 per cent, of natural impurity, inclusive of not more than 2 per cent, of sand. Cake of this standard might be reasonably accepted as made from one seed. Some imported cake, however, contains much more natural impurity, sometimes even 20 or 30 per cent., notably cake made from some growths of Russian seed, which could not in any sense be legitimately termed linseed cake. County and Borough Councils, and the Board of Agriculture, in exercising the discretion given by sec. 7, would be justified in acting upon the common trade standard of purity. (6) It is important to observe that this section provides not only that the invoice shall amount to a warranty that the stuff sold is of the quality and description stated in the invoice, but also by subsection 3 that it is suitable for feeding purposes. A case has recently been tried in which the importance of the provision in subsection 3 has been made apparent. The transaction arose before the Act came into operation, and the plaintiffs had to rely upon statements made by the defendants' agent in the course of the negotiations, which the judge who tried the case held amounted to an express warranty that certain Indian peas, known as " mutter peas," were good food for horses, whereas they turned out to be poisonous, and many horses died from eating them. The plaintiffs recovered the value of the horses, and would have been relieved of much trouble, expense, and uncertainty if the Act had been in force at the time of the transaction. See Bristol Tramway Company v. Weston, Times, July 17, 1894, or London Corn Circular, July 16 and 23, 1894. The warranties created by this section are more comprehensive than the general warranties implied by law, and codified in sec. 14 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1893 (56 and 57 Vict., c. 71), and involve penal as well as civil consequences. It should be noted that there is no power to contract out of the provisions of the Act. Sellers and buyers alike should remember that failure to observe the requirements of the Act involve penal consequences. ACT, WITH NOTES. 91 3. — (l.) If any person who sells any article for use Penalties for as a fertiliser of the soil or as food for cattle commits du^^y"' any of the following offences, namely : — """• (a.) Fails without reasonable excuse (7) to give, on or before or as soon as possible after the delivery of the article, the invoice required by this Act ; or (3.) Causes or permits any invoice or description of the article sold by him to be false (8) in any material particular to the prejudice of the pur- chaser ; or (f.) Sells for use as food for cattle any article which contains any ingredient deleterious to cattle, or to which has been added any ingredient worth- less for feeding purposes and not disclosed at the time of the sale (9), he shall, without prejudice to any civil liability, be liable, on summary conviction, for a first offence to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds and for any sub- sequent offence to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds (lo). (2.) In any proceeding for an offence under this section it shall be no defence to allege that the buyer, having bought only for analysis, was not prejudiced by the sale (11). (3.) A person alleged to have committed an offence under this section in respect of an article sold by him shall be entitled to the same rights and remedies, civil or criminal, against the person from whom he bought the article as are available to the person who bought the article from him, and any damages recovered by him may, if the circumstances justify it (I2), include the amount of any fine and costs paid by him on convic- tion under this section, and the costs of and incidental to his defence on such conviction (12). (7) The burden of proof of reasonable excuse would lie upon the defendant. 92 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. (8) Statements in the invoices referred to in sections i and 2, and to which the penalties in this section apply, should be true. A practice is believed to exist amongst a certain class of traders of representing orally the approximate percentages, and giving in the invoices merely nominal percentages of the most valuable ingredients, in order to escape from and defeat the provisions of the Act. Such a practice (whether or not it is technically a breach of the Act) cannot be said to be a proper compliance with the requirement that the person who sells shall state what is at least the percentage of such ingredients ; and any such practice should certainly be avoided by those who desire to observe the provisions of the law. It is a debatable question whether combinations amongst sellers to adopt that practice — or even arrangements made between seller and buyer to put into the invoices descriptions of the articles sold other than real and true descriptions,7&»- the purpose of defeating the operation of the Act — may not amount to a conspiracy to disobey the Act, rendering the offenders liable to be indicted for misdemeanour. In Korten v. West Sussex County Council [1903], 72 L.J.K.B. 514; 88 L.T. 466; 67 J. P. 167, the invoice stated the article to contain 38 per cent, total phosphates, whereas it contained only 31 per cent. The invoice further stated, " Minimum guaranteed, subject to conditions printed on the back," and such conditions made provision that if on analysis the phosphates were below the minimum a pro rata allowance would be made to the pur- chaser. It was held that the invoice was false in a material particular to the prejudice of the purchaser. Channell, J., points out in the case, that if it were suggested, " Although I state the minimum percentage is 38 per cent., I tell you also that I do not know whether that is the percentage or not, and I cannot ascertain it, and if it is not I do not make any warranty about it, but there shall be a pecuniary allowance. I think that if that were the true construction of the invoice it would not be a compliance with section i of the Act." Lord Alverstone, C. J., points out that clause {b) of section 3, sub-section i, was meant to be a wide one, indicating that the persons who in the course of their business caused or permitted to be sent out an invoice which was in fact false were to be guilty of an offence. It was also held in this case that a managing director cognisant of a form of invoice going out was liable to a penalty under this section. It is interesting to notice in connection with this decision another case of Coppen v. Moore [1898], 2 Q.B. 306 ; 67 L.J.Q.B. 689 ; 78 L.T. 520 ; 46 W.R. 620 ; 62 J. P. 453, where under the Merchandise Marks Act, 1887, the master or principal was held amenable to the criminal law for the acts of his servant, and that would be the principal's position under this statute. ACr, WITH NOTES. Q3 (9) From this sub-section it appears that injurious ingredients are absolutely forbidden. Indian and other linseed from hot climates and South American cotton seed sometimes contain castor-oil seed, which is extremely poisonous, and cake made in countries where castor-oil seed is grown, or in mills where it is crushed, also often contains castor-oil seed. If such seeds are incorporated by accident or negligence, that will be no excuse, neither will ignorance on the part of the seller be any excuse. (See Betts v. Armitage, 20 Q.B.D., decided upon sec. 6 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875 ; and Pain v. Broughtwood, 24 Q.B.D. 353, decided upon sec. 9 of the same Act.) Ingredients which are merely worthless are exempted from penal consequences, if disclosed at the time of sale. All worth- less ingredients must, however, be expressly disclosed at the time of sale, otherwise a liability to penal consequences will arise. Such ingredients as rice shudes, which are not deleterious, but which are well known in the trade as adulterants, afford an instance of the mischief sought to be suppressed by the Act. (10) Offences under this section are dealt with before courts of summary jurisdiction, which consist in country places of two or more justices of the peace ; in the City of London, of the Lord Mayor or an alderman sitting as justices ; in the metro- polis outside the City, of a metropolitan police magistrate ; and in certain towns, of a stipendiary magistrate. See also sec. 7 as to restrictions on prosecutions. (11) This provision has been inserted to avoid doubts raised in the case ol Hoyle v. Hitchinson, 4 Q.B.D. 233, as to whether a purchase for analysis merely could be said to be " prejudicial to the purchaser." (12) The person prosecuted must act reasonably. He should give notice to the seller of proceedings, and afford him an opportunity to give evidence, and otherwise justify the sale and representations, if he wishes to make a claim over against the seller. 4. — (i.) The Board of Agriculture (13) shall appoint f°p*^*° a chief agricultural analyst (hereafter referred to as the ^aiysu. chief analyst), who shall have such remuneration out of moneys provided by Parliament as the Treasury may assign. The chief analyst shall not while holding his office engage in private practice. (2.) Every county council shall (14), and the council of any county borough may, appoint or concur with another council or other councils in appointing for the 94 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. purposes of this Act a district agricultural analyst (hereafter referred to as a district analyst) for its county or borough, or a district comprising the counties or boroughs of the councils so concurring. The remunera- tion of any such district analyst shall be provided by the council, or in the case of a joint appointment by the respective councils in such proportions as they may agree, and shall be paid, in the case of a county, as general expenses, and, in the case of a county borough, out of the borough fund or borough rate. The appoint- ment shall be subject to the approval of the Board of Agriculture. Provided that no person shall while hold- ing the office of district analyst engage in any trade, manufacture, or business connected with the sale or importation of articles used for fertilising the soil or as food for cattle. (13) This Board was created in 1889 by virtue of statute 52 and 53 Vict., c. 30. Office of the Board, 4 Whitehall Place, S.W. (14) The appointment of a district analyst is compulsory for a county council, and optional for a council of a county borough. Power for £. — (i.) Every buyer of any article used for fertilis- m havT"^ ing the soil or as food for cattle shall, on payment to feedii.gst°uff ^ district analyst of a fee sanctioned by the body who naiysed. appointed the analyst (15), be entitled, within ten days after delivery (16) of the article to the buyer or receipt of the invoice by the buyer, whichever is later, to have the article analysed by the analyst, and to receive from him a certificate of the result of his analysis. (2.) Where a buyer of an article desires to have the article analysed in pursuance of this section, he shall, in accordance with regulations made by the Board of Agriculture (17), take three samples of the article, and shall in accordance with the said regulations cause each sample to be marked, sealed, and fastened up, and shall deliver or send by post one sample with the invoice or a copy thereof to the district analyst, and ACT, WITH NOTES. 95 shall give another sample to the seller, and shall retain the third sample for future comparison : Provided that a district analyst, or some person authorised by him in that behalf with the approval of the body who appointed the analyst, shall, on request either by the buyer or by the seller, and on payment of a fee (18) sanctioned by the said body, take the samples on behalf of the buyer. (3.) The certificate of the district analyst shall be in such form (19) and contain such particulars as the Board of Agriculture direct, and every district analyst shall report to the Board as they direct the result of any analysis made by him in pursuance of this Act. (4.) If the seller or the buyer objects to the certificate of the district analyst, one of the samples selected, or another sample selected in like manner, may, at the request of the seller, or, as the case may be, the buyer, be submitted with the invoice or a copy thereof to the chief analyst, and the seller, or, as the case may be, the buyer, shall, on payment of a fee sanctioned by the Treasury, be entitled to have the sample analysed by the chief analyst, and to receive from him a certi- ficate of the result of his analysis. (5.) At the hearing of any civil (20) or criminal proceeding with respect to any article analysed in pursuance of this section (2l), the production of a certificate of the district analyst, or if a sample has been submitted to the chief analyst, then of the chief analyst, shall be sufficient evidence of the facts therein stated, unless the defendant or person charged requires that the analyst be called as a witness (22). (6.) The costs of and incidental to the obtaining of any analysis in pursuance of this section shall be borne by the seller or the buyer in accordance with the results of the analysis, and shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt. 96 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. (15) This Act was primarily intended as a protection for farroers. The Royal Commissioners, whose repor.t was pub- lished in 1882, said {inter alia) : — " Protection should be given to farmers by including in the duties of the county analysts such of the articles referred to as were not already the subject of analysis by them." County councils will therefore probably consider that report in fixing the scales of fees payable re- spectively by farmers and by manure or cake manufacturers or dealers who may wish to have the services of the appointed analyst. In other words, county councils may prescribe differential fees if they think well. (16) This would mean actual delivery to the purchaser, and not " constructive delivery," such as handing over the article to a carrier for conveyance to the purchaser. (See Filshie v. Evington [1892], 2 Q.B.D. 200.) In that case the buyer paid carriage, and constructive delivery would take place at the starting-point. Samples were taken under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act at the station where the buyer was about to take possession, and this was held to be the place of delivery for the purpose of that Act. The purchaser has ten days after delivery and receipt of invoice to examine the goods, and to submit samples to the analyst, or he can within ten days give the analyst notice requiring him to take samples himself. The buyer appears to be entitled, as a matter of right, to have an analysis made, and certificate given, if he makes his applica- tion within ten days ; but if he makes his application at a later period there is no objection to the analyst proceeding, if he choose to do so, the matter then being discretionary with him. The buyer could not, however, treat the later analysis as made in pursuance of this section, and he would not be entitled to the benefit of the provisions of sub-sec. 5 in case of a prosecution, but would have to call the analyst as a witness at the hearing to give evidence in the usual way. The delay would thus not necessarily bar a prosecution, but it would be a factor to be considered by county and borough councils and the Board of Agriculture in determining (under sec. 7) whether or not a prosecution should be instituted. (17) Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Regulations, 1897, Regula- tions 5 to 22. {See pp. 100-107.) In Korten v. West Sussex County Council, 72 L.J.K.B. 514 ; 88 L.T. 466 ; 67 J.P. 167, it was decided that the taking of the sample in a particular way, or the taking of a sample at all by the buyer, and submitting it to a district analyst, was not a condition precedent to a prosecution. (18) A special fee should be prescribed by county councils ACT, WITH NOTES. 97 where the analyst is required to take a sample tiimself at the request of a buyer or seller. (19) Form B, p. 112. Care must be taken to follow the form and state the constituent parts of the sample analysed. A certificate under the S. F. and D. Act, 1875, has been held to be bad for not doing this. — {Fortune v. Hanson [1896], i Q.B. 202. See also Bridge v. Howard\\%')-j\ i Q.B. 80.) (20) The provision made by this section for the admission of the certificate in civil proceedings is a new and important enactment, being intended to give litigants the power to go to county courts in small matters without incurring the heavy expense which would be involved in calling the analyst as a witness to prove formally the contents of the certificate. Evidence may be called to deny the accuracy of the analysis certified; but if the certificate is the only evidence before the court, effect must be given to it. — (Harrison v. Richards, 45 J. P. 552.) (21) See latter part of note (16), above. (22) Notice should be given a reasonable time before the return day of the summons, if the defendant wishes the analyst called. The analyst's certificate is "sufficient" to establish a primd facie case, but is not conclusive, and may be displaced by other evidence.— (Hewitt V. Tayior [i&gO], i Q.B. 287.) Proof of deficiency in quality should be given in the way pro- vided by the Act, but if you can prove it to the satisfaction of the tribunal otherwise, you are entitled to do so, although certainly the best way of doing it is to adopt the machinery provided by the Act, and certainly if you want to put in an analysis and not the sworn testimony you must follow accurately the procedure of the Act — per Channell, J., in Korten v. West Sussex County Council (supra). 6. If any person knowingly and fraudulently — Penalty foi {a.) tampers with any parcel of fertiliser or feeding "™p"'"s- stuff so as to procure that any sample of it taken in pursuance of this Act does not cor- rectly represent the contents of the parcel ; or (b.) tampers with any sample taken under this Act ; he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months. 7. — (i.) A prosecution for an offence under this Act Prosecufiom may be instituted either by the person aggrieved, or """^ ^pp=»'s- by the council of a county or borough, or by any body 98 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. or association authorised in that behalf by the Board of Agriculture, but in the case of an offence under section three shall not be instituted by the person aggrieved or by any body or association except on a certificate by the Board of Agriculture that there is reasonable ground for the prosecution (23). (2.) Any person aggrieved by a summary conviction under this Act may appeal to a court of quarter sessions (24). (23) See end of note (s), p. 90, and end of note (16), p. 96. A certificate as to reasonable grounds for prosecuting does not appear to be necessary in proceedings at the instance of a council of a borough or county. It cannot be said that when there is a prosecution instituted by the council of any county or borough that there is any necessity for taking samples in a particular way — per Lord Alverstone, C.J., in Korten v. West Sussex County Council, 72 LJ.K.B. S14 ; 88 L.T. 466 ; 67 J.P. 167. (24) All appeals from the justices to the quarter sessions are now regulated by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts. (For proce- dure, see 42 and 43 Vict. c. 49, sec. 31. See also 52 and 53 Vict. c. 63, sec. 13, sub-sec. 11; and The Queen v. J. J. Glamorganshire [1892], i Q.B. 621.) An appeal to quarter sessions lies on disputed matters of fact and law. The justices may state a case for the opinion of the High Court of Justice on a point of law only, under 20 and 2 1 Vict. c. 43. The Summary Jurisdiction Rules, 1886, must be com- plied with strictly in this procedure, as exemplified in South Staffordshire Water Works Co. v. Stone, 19 Q.B.D. 168 ; and Westmore \. Paine [1891], i Q.B. 48Z Construction 8. — (i.) For the purposes of this Act the expression M^app ca- „ ^j^j.^jg >) shall mean bulls, cows, oxen, heifers, calves, sheep, goats, swine, and horses ; and the expressions "soluble" and "insoluble" shall respectively mean soluble and insoluble in water. (2.) This Act shall apply to wholesale as well as retail sales. Application 9. In the application of this Act to Scotland — ""'''' (i.) The expression '"council of any county borough" shall mean the magistrates and town council of a Act, tvlTii NOtMS. $9 burgh, and the duties and powers of councils of counties and county burghs shall be performed and be exercisable in a county by the county councils or district committees thereof, and in a burgh by the magistrates and town council, and the remuneration of district analysts appointed under this Act shall be paid in the case of a county out of the consolidated rate, and in the case of a burgh out of the police or burgh general assessment. (2.) The expression " burgh " means a burgh which returns or contributes to return a member to Parlia- ment, not being a burgh to which section fourteen of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889, applies. sa&ssVict c. 50. (3.) Penalties for offences under this Act may be recovered summarily before the sheriff in manner pro- vided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, and any person aggrieved by a summary conviction may appeal therefrom in accordance with the provisions of those Acts. 10. For the purposes of the execution of this Act in Application Ireland, inclusive of the appointment of a chief agri- '° '"" ' cultural analyst, the Lord Lieutenant acting by the advice of the Privy Council shall be substituted for the Board of Agriculture, and the district analysts shall be the analysts appointed for counties and boroughs in Ireland under the Sale of Food and 35 & 3, vict. Drugs Act, 187s. and the additional remuneration of '=*3- such analysts for their duties under this Act shall be provided in manner directed by the said Act of 1875 and any Act amending the same. 11. This Act shall come into operation on the first Commence- day of January 1894. 12. This Act may be cited as the Fertilisers and short title. Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893. II.— REGULATIONS OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.* 1897. No. 419. The Board of Agriculture, in pursuance of the pro- visions of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, do hereby make the following Regulations as to samples to be taken under the said Act. Commencement. 1. These Regulations are to take effect on the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and ninety- seven, and to remain in force until altered or revoked by the Board of Agriculture. Definitions. 2. In these Regulations — " Authorised representative " means any person authorised by the District Analyst to take samples, with the approval of the body who appointed the District Analyst. " Buyer " and " seller " include their respective agents. * Copies of a leaflet containing a Summary of the Provisions of the Act, with the Regulations, may be obtained free of charge on application to the Secretary, Board of Agriculture, 4 Whitehall Place, S.W. REGULATIONS. loi " Fertiliser " means any article sold for use as a fertiliser of the soil, which has been sub- jected to any artificial process in the United Kingdom or imported from abroad. " Feeding stuff" means any article sold for use as food for cattle which has been artificially prepared. Other terms have the same meaning and scope as in the above-mentioned Act. Appointment of Agent. 3. An appointment of an agent by the buyer may be in the Form A. set forth in the Schedule hereto or in a form to the like effect ; and the provisions of these Regulations relating to a buyer shall apply to an agent appointed by the buyer for the purposes of the above-mentioned Act. Proceedings by Buyer to procure Samples. 4. When the buyer of not less than half a hundred- weight of a fertiliser, or of any quantity of a feeding stuff, desires to have the same analysed in pursuance of the fifth section of the above Act, he is, within ten days after delivery of the article to him or receipt of the invoice, whichever is later, either to give notice to the seller that he intends to take samples of the article himself, or to give notice in writing to the District Analyst or authorised representative, stating that he desires that the samples shall be taken by the Dis- trict Analyst gr authorised representative, as the case may be. Regulations as to Samples taken by Buyer. 5. When the buyer intends to take the samples himself, he is to give at least three days' notice in 102 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. writing of such intention to the seller, with particulars as to the place, day, and hour of sampling. If the seller does not attend, the samples are to be taken in the presence of a witness, who is to initial each sample. 6. The buyer is forthwith to deliver or send by post to the District Analyst, one of such samples, with the invoice or a copy thereof, and also, in the case of a feeding stuff, any circular or advertisement of the seller descriptive of the article to be analysed, which the buyer may wish the District Analyst to consider in making his analysis and giving his certificate. 7. One of the remaining samples is to be delivered or sent by post to the seller, and the other is to be retained by the buyer. Regulations as to Samples taken by District Analyst or Authorised Representative. 8. When the buyer or the seller desires that the samples shall be taken by the District Analyst or authorised representative, he is to give notice in writing to that effect to the District Analyst or authorised representative, as the case may be. Such notice is to contain the names and addresses of the buyer and the seller, and such particulars as may be necessary to enable the District Analyst or authorised representa- tive to identify the article to be analysed, and may be in the Form B. set forth in the Schedule hereto or in a form to the like effect. A copy of any such notice given by the seller is to be sent at the same time to the buyer. . 9. The District Analyst or authorised representa- tive, as the case may be, is to give at least three days' notice in writing to the seller and to the buyer, as to REGULATIONS. 103 the place, day, and hour, of sampling to enable them to be present at such sampling, if they so desire. 10. One of the samples taken by the District Analyst or authorised representative is to be retained for the use of the District Analyst in making this analysis, another delivered or sent to the seller, and the third delivered or sent to the buyer. 1 1. Any notice or sample required by these Regu- lations to be given or sent by the District Analyst or authorised representative to the buyer or the seller, may be sent by post to the respective names and addresses stated in the notice to be given under Article 8. 12. The District Analyst, or authorised representa- tive, as the case may be, is, at or before the time of sampling, to be supplied by the buyer with the invoice or a copy thereof, and also in the case of a feeding stuff, with any circular or advertisement of the seller descriptive of the article to be analysed, which the buyer may wish the District Analyst to consider in making his analysis and giving his certificate. 13. The District Analyst or authorised representa- tive is to provide any receptacle or other thing required by him for the samples. General Regulations for taking Samples. {a.) Fertilisers. 14. When the fertiliser is delivered in bags or other packages, a number of bags or packages are to be selected as follows, viz. : — Not less than 2 bags or packages where the quantity does not exceed i ton. 104 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. Not less than 3 bags or packages where the quantity does not exceed 2 tons. Not less than 4 bags or packages where the quantity does not exceed 3 tons. And one additional bag or package for every addi- tional ton or part of a ton ; provided that in no case need more than 10 bags or packages be selected. 1 5. The selected bags or packages are to be emptied separately on a clean and dry stone or wooden floor, worked up with a spade, and one spadeful from each set aside. The separate spadefuls are then to be thoroughly mixed, and any lumps broken up by the hand or spade. From this mixture three samples, each from \ lb. to I lb. in weight, are to be taken and carefully and securely packed. 16. When the fertiliser is delivered in bulk, then, in like manner, portions are to be taken from different parts of the fertiliser, and thoroughly mixed together, and the samples taken from a portion of such mixture. 17. When the fertiliser consists of bulky material, uneven in character and likely to get matted together, such as shoddy, wool, refuse, hair, &c., portions are to be taken from the selected bags or packages, or from different parts of the fertiliser if in bulk, the matted portions torn up, and the whole mixed as above directed, but no sample is to be less than i lb. in weight. 18. As an alternative method, where neither the seller nor the buyer signifies objection thereto, samples of a fertiliser delivered in bags or other packages may be taken by a sampling pale or spear or pipe or tube, which shall not be less than 24 inches in length, and 2 inches in diameter. The total quantity so abstracted REGULATIONS. 105 for the samples shall be not less than 5 lbs. where where the quantity of the fertiliser does not exceed 5 tons, and not less than 10 lbs. where the quantity exceeds 5 tons, and shall be drawn from at least double the number of bags or packages required to be selected under Regulation 14. {b.) Feeding Stuffs. 19. When the feeding stuff is in the state of meal or grain, it is to be sampled in the same manner as prescribed for fertilisers. When the feeding stuff is in the state of cake, a number of cakes are to be selected as follows : — Not less than 3 cakes where the quantity does not exceed i ton. Not less than 5 cakes where the quantity does not exceed 5 tons. Not less than 10 cakes where the quantity ex- ceeds 5 tons. 20. The selected cakes are to be broken into small pieces such as could be passed through a half- inch sieve. These pieces are to be thoroughly mixed, and from the mixture three samples, each not less than I lb. in weight, are to be taken. 21. In the case of a feeding stuff, if any appreciable portion be mouldy, sour, or otherwise unsuitable for feeding purposes, or if cakes be full of hard lumps, or have cotton or hair attaching to them, separate samples are to be taken of such portion or cakes and of the residue of the feeding stuff. An estimate is to be formed as to the proportion of the feeding stuff represented by each sample. 22. When the feeding stuff is in a fluid or semi- fluid condition, three packages are to be selected, and io6 FERTILISERS AMD FEEDING STUFFS. a portion taken from each. The several portions are then to be well mixed together in a clean vessel, and three samples taken therefrom as in other cases. General Directions. 23. In every case the sampling is to be done as quickly as is possible consistently with due care, and the material is not to be allowed to be exposed any longer than is absolutely necessary. 24. The object of the person taking the samples is to obtain samples fairly representing the bulk from which they are drawn, and therefore no bag, package, or cake is to be selected which has apparently been damaged while in the possession of the buyer. 25. Each sample is to be packed in a dry clean bottle, or jar, or (except in the case of a fertiliser) in a dry clean tin, or in some other suitable manner, so that the original composition of the fertiliser or feed- ing stuff may be preserved. 26. The samples are to be so packed and secured that they cannot be tampered with, and are to be sealed and initialed by the person taking the sample. They may also be sealed by the buyer and the seller, if present and so desiring. Each sample is to be marked with the name of the article, the date and the place of the sampling, and with some distinguishing number. Regulation as to Samples sealed by Seller and Buyer. 27. Where any samples are taken in the presence of, and sealed by, the seller as well as the buyer, such samples are to be deemed, as between the buyer and REGULATIONS. 107 seller, to have been taken in accordance with these Regulations. Revocation. 28. All Regulations heretofore made by the Board of Agriculture in pursuance of the provisions of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, are hereby revoked as from the time at which these Regulations take effect. Short Title. 29. These Regulations may be cited as the Ferti- lisers and Feeding Stuffs Regulations, 1897. In witness whereof the Board of Agriculture have hereunto set their Official Seal this first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and ninety- seven. T. H. ELLIOT, Secretary. SCHEDULE. Form A. Appoi?itment by Buyer of Agent for purposes of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893. I, A. B., of hereby appoint C. D., of or the Secretary for the time being of the .Association [or as the case may be\ to do on my behalf all things necessary for the pur- pose of obtaining an analysis under the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, of the fertiliser or feeding stuff bought by me under an invoice, a copy of which is annexed. to8 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. Form B. Request that the Samples may be taken by District Agricultural Analyst. To, \Here insert name and address of the District Agricultural Analyst^ I, A. B., of hereby request that the necessary samples for the purposes of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, of the under-mentioned fertiliser or feeding stuff, may be taken by you or by some person duly authorised by you, for which I enclose the prescribed fee of shillings. Name and Address of Buyer. Name and Address of Seller. Description of Ferti- liser or Feeding Stuff identifying the Parcel. Place where the Ferti- liser or Feeding Stuff can be sampled. N.B. — A buyer giving this Notice should send there- with the invoice or a copy thereof, and also, in the case of a feeding stuff, any circular or advertisement of the seller descriptive of the article to be analysed, which the buyer may wish the A nalyst to consider in making his analysis and giving his certificate. A seller giving this Notice is at the same time to send a copy thereof to the buyer. III.— FORMS OF CERTIFICATE OF DISTRICT ANALYST ISSUED BY THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE The Board of Agriculture, in pursuance of the pro- visions of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, do hereby direct as follows : — 1. The Certificate of a District Analyst under the above-mentioned Act is to be in such one of the Forms set forth in the Schedule hereto annexed as may be applicable to the case, and to contain the particulars therein mentioned, with such variations as the circum- stances require. 2. This direction is to take effect from and after the first day of January 1894, and to remain in force until altered or revoked by the Board of Agriculture. In witness whereof the Board of Agriculture have hereunto set their Official Seal this twenty-third day of December 1 893. T. H. ELLIOT, Secretary. no FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. SCHEDULE OF FORMS. Form A. — Certificate for Fertiliser where the Samples are not taken by the District Analyst. I, the undersigned District Analyst for the (^) , in pursuance of the provisions of the Fertih'sers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, do hereby certify that I received on the day of 189 , from (2) a sample of (*) for analysis, which was duly sealed, and fastened up, and marked (*) , and was accompanied by the annexed (^) (copy of an) invoice, and that at the request of (8) , I have analysed the same, and declare the result of my analysis to be as follows : — I am of opinion that the said sample contained the parts as under — Nitrogen .... per cent. C\ Phosnhates -f Soluble . . per cent. C ; Jr-hospnates | j^goluble . per cent. (8) Potash per cent. As witness my hand this day of 189 . A.B., at FORMS OF CERTIFICATE. iii Here insert the name of the county, borough, or district. (') Here insert the name of the person delivering the sample, and if so, " by post," and also add, if applicable, " the person duly authorised by me to take samples." (^) Here insert the name of the article as stated on the sample. (*) Here insert the distinguishing mark on the sample, con- sisting of initials and a number. (') The invoice or copy invoice will be initialed by the analyst for purposes of identification and annexed to this certificate. (^) Here insert name of the buyer requesting the analysis. (') The phosphates in both cases to be given according to the trade practice in terms of tribasic phosphate of lime, Ca3(P04)2. (8) The potash to be given in terms of potassium oxide, (') If the invoice or description of the article be false in any material particular to the prejudice of the buyer, here state in what respect. H 112 FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. Form B. — Certificate for Fertilisers where the Samples are taken by the District A nalyst. I, the undersigned District Analyst for the (^) , in pursuance of the provisions of the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893, do hereby certify as follows : — (a.) That on the day of 1 89 , at the request of (^) , and in the presence of (^) , I took, in accord- ance with the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Regulations, 1893, three samples of a parcel of (*) , lying in Q) , and identified by the said (^) , as the fertiliser sold under the invoice, (a copy of) which was supplied to me by the said (') , and is annexed (*) to this certificate. (3.) That on the said day of 189 , I delivered to the said (^) [by post] one of the said samples marked (^'') , and to the said Q-"^) [by post] another of the said samples marked (i") ( 6. 7 RAPE cake, 72, 74 mustard in, 74 Rape dust, 44 for wheat, 48 Rapid fattening, 66 Raw material of soil, 3, 4 Regulations of Board of Agricul- ture, 100 Rent, mode of regarding, 3, 4, 5 Rice meal, 78 shudes, 78 Roots, feeding constituents of, 68 poverty in albuminoids, 68 size of, 58 Rotation grasses, 63 liberal treatment of, 63 manuring, 63 autumn dressing of, 63 top dressing of, 63 nitrate of soda for, 63 phosphates for, 63 Rye, 72 Ryegrass, Italian, 62 effect of nitrate on, 62 SAINFOIN, 61 Salt, 48, 54, 57, 58 for cabbages, 54 for mangolds, 57, 58 for wheat, 48 "panning " land, 57 Sales, Act applies to wholesale and retail, 98 Samples for analysis, regulations as to, 95, 101-105 Scotland, application of Act to, 98 Seller, rights and liabilities as affected by analysis, 95, 96, 102 Sheep, caking of, 21, 69, 70 Shoddy, 44 Soluble phosphate, derived from bones, 35 derived from minerals, 35 definition of, 98 Spice, 67 Starch, value of, 68, 80, 81 Straw, as food, 67 mode of using, 67 poverty in albuminoids, 67 as litter, 10, 67 Sugar, value of, 68, 80, 81 Sulphate of ammonia, compared with nitrate of soda, 27, 28 strength, 27 nitrification of in soil, 27 for pastures, 64A for potatoes, 60, 61 124 INDEX. Summary Jurisdiction, Court of, what is, 93 Superphosphate, 35 materials used in making, 35, 36 variations in strength, 36, 37 condition, 37 "goingbacli:,"37, 38 "precipitated phospliate" in, 37,38 for barley, 49, 50 for cabbages, 54 for leguminous crops, 62 for mangolds, 57 for oats, 49, 50 for pastures, 64 for potatoes, 60 ripening effect on mangolds, 57 for rotation grasses, 62 for turnips, 53, 54 for wheat, 47 Superphosphate, "basic," j«« "basic superphosphate. " Swedes, see "turnips." TAMPERING, penalty for, 97 Tares, see "vetches" Temporary pastures, see "rotation grasses Thomas' phosphate, see "basic slag" Tripolium, 61 Turnips, 22, 49, 51, 53 feeding, 22, 69, 70 manuring, 51-53 basic slag for, 53, 54 "basic superphosphate" for, 52 Turnips — continued dissolved bones for, 53, 54 dung on, 51, 52, 53 overdunging wasteful, 52 nitrate of soda for, 53 Peruvian guano for, 53, 54 phosphates for, 53, 54 potash salts for, 53 superphosphate for, 53, 54 UNDISSOLVED phosphates ■versus dissolved, 40-43 V ETCHES, 61 WARRANTIES on sale, 89, 90 Wheat, 4, 46, 72, 76 manuring, 46-49 autumn dressing of, 47, 48 spring dressing of, 47 basic slag for, 47 "basic superphosphate" for, 47 bone meal for, 47 dissolved guano for, 48 fish guano for, 48 nitrate of soda for, 47 , 48 Peruvian guano for, 48 phosphates for, 47 rape dust for, 48 superphosphate for, 47 Warington, Prof. R., 71, 79 Woollen rags, 44 Printed at The Darien Press, EdinhurgK