Talks on Manures / A Series of Familiar and Practical Talks Between the Author and the Deacon, the Doctor, and Other Neighbors, on the Whole Subject

by Joseph Harris

“Upon plots 6a, four cwts. per acre of the patent wheat-manure were used, which gave 20¼ bushels, or rather more than two bushels beyond the produce of the unmanured plot; but as the manure contained, besides the minerals peculiar to it, some nitrogenous compounds, giving off a very perceptible odor of ammonia, some, at least, of the increase would be due to that substance. On plot 6b, however, the further addition of one cwt. each of sulphate and muriate of ammonia to this so-called ‘Mineral Manure,’ gives a produce of 29¼ bushels. In other words, the addition of ammoniacal salt, to Liebig’s mineral manure has increased the produce by very nearly 9 bushels per acre beyond that of the mineral manure alone, whilst the increase obtained over the unmanured plot, by 14 tons of farm-yard manure, was only 9¼ bushels!

The following table gives the results of the experiments the fourth year, 1846-7.

Experiments at Rothamsted on the Growth of Wheat, Year after Year, on the same Land.

TABLE IV.—MANURES AND PRODUCE; 4TH SEASON, 1846-7. MANURES AND SEED (OLD RED LAMMAS), SOWN END OF OCTOBER, 1846.

Manures	Produce
FM Farm-yard Manure. PG Peruvian Guano. SPL Superphosphate of Lime. B-A Bone-ash. SAc Sulphuric Acid (Sp. gr. 1-7.) MAc Muriatic Acid. SAm Sulphate of Ammonia. MAm Muriate of Ammonia. R Rice.	Wt/Bu. Weight per Bushel. OC Offal Corn. TC Total Corn. S&C Straw and Chaff. TP/C&S Total Produce (Corn and Straw.) C Corn. TP Total Produce. OCD Offal Corn to 100 Dressed. C100 Corn to 100 Straw.

P l o t s.	Manures perAcre.								Produce perAcre, etc.						Increase perAcre by Manure.
			SPL						Dressed corn.
	FM	PG	B-A	SAc	MAc	SAm	MAm	R	Quantity	Wt/Bu.	OC	TC	S&C	TP C&S	C	S&C	TP	OC 100	C100
	Tons.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	Bush. Pks.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.
0	..	500	..	..	..	..	..	..	30 2¾	61.1	156	2031	3277	5308	908	1375	2283	8.2	61.9
1	..	..	200	..	200	350	50	..	32 1	61.2	147	2119	3735	5854	996	1833	2829	7.2	56.7
2	14	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	29 3¾	62.3	117	1981	3628	5609	858	1726	2584	6.2	54.6
3	Unmanured.		..	..	..	..	..	..	16 3½	61.0	95	1123	1902	3025	..	..	..	8.9	59.0
4	..	..	200	..	200	300	..	..	27 1¾	61.9	82	1780	2948	4728	657	1046	1703	4.7	60.3
5a	..	..	200	200	..	150	150	..	29 0	61.8	130	1921	3412	5333	798	1510	2309	7.1	56.3
5b	..	..	200	200	..	150	150	500	32 2	61.4	136	2132	3721	5853	1009	1819	2827	6.6	57.2
6a	..	..	..	..	..	150	150	..	24 3¼	62.1	122	1663	2786	4449	540	884	1124	7.8	59.6
6b	..	..	..	..	..	150	150	..	24 1¾	61.6	127	1632	2803	4435	509	901	1410	8.2	58.2
7a	..	..	..	..	..	150	150	..	27 3¼	61.7	118	1834	3151	4985	711	1249	1960	6.8	58.2
7b	..	..	..	..	..	150	150	..	25 1¼	61.5	125	1682	2953	4635	559	1051	1610	7.9	56.9
8a	..	..	200	200	..	150	150	500	32 1¾	62.1	102	2115	3683	5798	992	1781	2773	5.5	57.4
8b	..	..	200	200	..	200	200	..	30 3	61.7	123	2020	3720	5740	897	1818	2715	6.5	54.3
9a{1	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	2240	22 3	62.5	..	1477	2506	3983	228	604	..	..	53.9
{2	..	..	..	..	..	150	150	..	26 2	61.0	..	1755	3052	4807	632	1150	..	..	57.5
9b	..	..	..	..	..	150	150	..	26 0	61.3	123	1717	2858	4575	594	956	1550	..	60.1
10a	..	..	..	..	..	150	150	..	25 3	61.5	118	1702	2891	4593	579	989	1568	7.3	58.8
10b	..	..	..	..	..	150	150	..	25 2¾	61.2	133	1705	2874	4579	582	972	1554	8.2	59.3
11a	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	30 3½	61.6	142	2044	3517	5561	921	1615	2536	6.3	59.5
11b	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	29 1¾	61.8	123	1941	3203	5144	818	1301	2119	6.7	60.6
12a	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	29 2	62.0	124	1953	3452	5405	830	1550	2380	6.6	57.1
12b	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	27 0½	61.8	121	1796	3124	4920	673	1222	1895	7.1	57.4
13a	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	20 2½	62.5	108	1959	3306	5265	836	1404	2240	5.5	57.3
13b	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	27 1¼	62.3	96	1801	3171	4972	678	1269	1947	5.3	56.7
14a	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	28 0¾	62.8	175	1944	3362	5306	821	1460	2281	9.7	59.5
14b	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	26 3¾	62.8	166	1856	3006	4862	733	1104	1837	9.8	61.7
15a	..	..	200	..	200	300	..	500	32 3	63.0	151	2214	3876	6090	1091	1974	3065	7.2	57.1
15b	..	..	200	..	200	300	..	500	32 0	62.6	137	2140	3617	5757	1017	1715	2732	6.6	59.1
16a	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	29 1¼	62.3	132	1959	3417	5376	836	1515	2351	6.9	57.3
16b	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	34 2¼	62.6	119	2283	4012	6295	1160	2110	3270	5.2	56.9
17a	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	33 3	62.3	119	2222	4027	6249	1099	2125	3224	5.6	55.1
17b	..	..	100	100	..	200	200	..	35 1¼	62.0	117	2314	4261	6575	1191	2359	3550	6.4	54.3
18a	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	32 0¾	62.7	142	2160	3852	6012	1037	1950	2987	6.9	56.0
18b	..	..	100	100	..	150	150	..	29 1½	62.9	181	2029	4164	6193	906	2262	3168	9.7	48.7
19	..	..	100	..	100	300	..	500	32 3	62.8	140	2195	4202	6397	1072	2300	3372	6.7	52.2
20	Unmanured.		..	..	..	..	..	..	20 0¾	62.5	70	1332	2074	3406	209	172	381	4.9	64.2
21}	Mixture of the residue of most of the other manures.								.. ..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
22}

Here again, I want the Deacon to look at plot 0, where 500 lbs. Peruvian guano, sown in October, gives an increase of nearly 14 bushels of dressed wheat and 1,375 lbs. of straw per acre. On plot 2, where 14 tons of barn-yard manure have now been applied four years in succession (56 tons in all), there is a little more straw, but not quite so much grain, as from the 500 lbs. of guano.

“But will the guano,” said the Deacon, “be as lasting as the manure?”

“Not for wheat,” said I. “But if you seed the wheat down with clover, as would be the case in this section, we should get considerable benefit, probably, from the guano. If wheat was sown after the wheat, the guano applied the previous season would do little good on the second crop of wheat. And yet it is a matter of fact that there would be a considerable proportion of the guano left in the soil. The wheat cannot take it up. But the clover can. And we all know that if we can grow good crops of clover, plowing it under, or feeding it out on the land, or making it into hay and saving the manure obtained from it, we shall thus be enabled to raise good crops of wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and corn, and in this sense guano is a ‘lasting’ manure.”