_To The Editor of the "Manchester Guardian."_
CLITHEROE, October 5th, 1843.
SIR,--I PROMISED to send you some details of my attempt to grow
wheat on the same soil year after year. These I now forward, and
hope they may prove interesting. I was led into these experiments
by reading Liebig's book on the "Chemistry of Agriculture;" for,
assuming his theory to be true, it appeared to me to be quite
possible to grow wheat on the same land year after year; as,
according to that theory, the carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, which
constitute the great bulk of all cereal crops (both grain and
straw), are supplied in abundance from the soil and atmosphere (or
perhaps, to speak more correctly, from the latter), and we have
only to supply those inorganic substances, which, however
numerous, form but a small part of the whole weight of the crop.
With the view of testing this theory, and hoping that I might be
able to find out what were the elements which built up and
cemented the carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen together--or, in other
words, which constituted fertility--I begun, in the autumn of
1841, to experiment on a field which had been exhausted by a
succession of crops, and which had just been cleared of one of
oats. I chose an exhausted field in preference to any other, as
the only one in which I could test the truth of the theory. It was
very foul, being full of couch grass and weeds of all kinds. It
was ploughed up and hastily picked over, for the season was so
unfavourable for cleaning the land (from the great quantity of
rain that fell) that I was almost induced to abandon the
experiment. Previously to sowing the seed, one-fourth of the field
was manured with a compost of night-soil and coal-ashes, at the
rate of forty tons to the customary acre (7840 yards); the
remaining three-fourths having the seed put in without any manure
whatever. The winter was very unfavourable for the plants in our
cold wet soil, and in the unmanured part of the field many of them
perished, and those that survived made very little progress, from
having no stimulus at the roots. Thinking it desirable to apply my
experimental manures in moist weather, I waited until the 6th May,
when I treated that part of the field which had _not_ been manured
(three-fourths of the whole) in the following manner. I applied
guano to one-fourth, at the rate of two hundredweight to the
statute acre, and the same weight of nitrate of soda over another
fourth, leaving one-fourth entirely without manure. The wheat
manured with the guano and nitrate of soda grew vigorously, and
the ears, more particularly in the part manured with guano, were
the finest I had ever seen, but when it came to ripen it
shrivelled in the ear, and the sample was very indifferent; the
soil being evidently deficient in some property necessary for
perfecting the grain. The crop also suffered much from the
depredations of the birds.
The portion manured with night-soil produced
to the statute acre 32 bushels of 60 lbs. each.
Guano " " 27 " " "
Nitrate of Soda " " 27 " " "
Unmanured part " " 19 2/3 " " "
I give these details to show that the land was in an exhausted
state previous to the commencement of the experiment I am now
about to detail. After the crop of 1842 was reaped, the land was
immediately ploughed up, and the season being very favourable, it
was tolerably well cleaned, and the seed was sown (without any
manure) about the first week in October. After the wheat came up,
it was manured with a dusting of one hundredweight of guano, over
the entire field (about one acre, three roods), to keep the plants
alive through the winter. In the spring, being divided into three
portions, it was manured with the same number of experimental
manures, which were furnished to me by Mr. Blyth, of Church, near
Accrington, who also analyzed the soil and subsoil for me. These
manures were applied about the 10th of April, and the experiment
was still further varied by covering a portion of each division
with guano a fortnight afterwards, at the rate of two hundredweight
to the acre, but all the manure applied to the crop, including the
hundredweight of guano put on in the autumn, did not exceed 6 1/2
hundredweight. The crop, which was a very thin one in the spring,
improved so much by the application of these manures, that when it
came into ear, it was allowed by all who saw it to be the best in
the neighbourhood; but the heavy rains of July caused it to lodge
in the best part of the field, and there it was attacked by rust,
and the sample was very indifferent. In addition to this drawback,
there being very little wheat grown in the neighbourhood of the
town, and this being much earlier than any of the other fields,
was attacked by the birds as soon as the grain was formed in the
ear. Notwithstanding all the efforts made to prevent them, they
continued feeding upon it until it was cut; and it is a very
moderate estimate of the damage, to say that they destroyed one-
fourth of the crop throughout the field. That part of the field
covered with manure (No. 1) being the earliest, suffered most.
There were patches of several square yards where there did not
appear to be a single grain left; and wherever the birds took a
grain from the middle of the ear, when in the milky state, the
grains on each side of it appeared to grow no more, but shrivelled
up in the ear.
I have little doubt that in this portion of the field one-third of
the crop was destroyed. All this seems to reduce the experiment to
little more than guess-work; and it will, probably, be very
difficult to persuade those who did not see the field when it was
cut, to credit this report of the devastation made by the birds;
even when they are told that Clitheroe is a town of 7,000
inhabitants, and probably as many sparrows, and that apparently
they were all assembled to feed in this field; and they became so
accustomed to the good living they found there, that even when our
neighbours' wheat was fit to eat, they continued to favour this
field with their visits in preference to going elsewhere. I
estimate the damage on No. 1 at one-third, No. 2 at one-fourth,
No. 3 at one-fifth; this was later than the others, and suffered
more from rust than birds.
The following are the results:--From 3,060 yards manured with No.
1, there were obtained 1,042 lbs. of wheat, or 27 1/2 bushels of
60 lbs. each to the statute acre; if we add one-half to this, as
we assume that one-third was destroyed by the birds, it will give
41 1/4 bushels to the statute acre. The weight of straw from this
portion was 188 stones 5 lbs., 14 lbs. to the stone. From 2,856
yards manured with No. 2, 962 lbs. of wheat were obtained, and 155
stones 9 lbs. of straw; this is equal to 27 1/4 bushels per acre,
or with one-third added, for estimated damage, it is equal to 36
bushels per statute acre. From 2610 yards manured with No. 3,
there were 1,067 lbs. of wheat, and 211 stones 7 lbs. of straw, or
33 bushels to the statute acre, to which if we add one-fourth,
according to the estimate of damage, it will be equal to 41 1/4
bushels per acre. It will be observed that this portion yielded a
far greater weight of straw per acre than either of the others,
and from the sort of manure applied, it was expected that this
would be the case.
No. 1 yielded straw at the rate of 297 3/4 stones per acre.
" 2 " " " " 246 3/4 " "
" 3 " " " " 392 1/3 " "
Many people may feel inclined to say, that all these apparent data
are mere guesses, and that a crop may be made into anything one
likes, if they assume so much for damages; but, fortunately, it is
not all guess-work. I have stated previously that I covered a part
of each division with guano a fortnight after the application of
the manures in April, intending to see what advantage was obtained
by the use of it; but, owing to the depredations of the birds, the
portions of the first and second divisions manured with guano were
not kept separate from those which were left without guano; but
the third being later, and, therefore, not so much injured by
them, gave me an opportunity of ascertaining the effect. I
measured off a land which had been so manured, and reaped and
thrashed it out separately. From this land of 100 yards long and
10 feet wide (3,000 square feet), there was obtained 220 lbs. of
wheat, or 53 bushels of 60 lbs. per statute acre; and this was far
from being the best portion of the field. I don't mean that it was
not the best portion of the crop, but I mean that the soil was not
so good there as it was in other parts of the field; as I have
before stated, in the best part of the field the crop was spoiled
by being lodged by the rain, and subsequently attacked by rust.
I communicate this to you, in the hope that the publication of it
in your paper maybe the means of stimulating others to try the
same experiments. It is not too late yet to try for the next
year's crop, and I have no doubt that Mr. Blyth will be happy to
supply both material and information to any who may require them
from him. It is the duty of everyone to promote the advancement of
agriculture; and this is my contribution towards it. I have not
yet done, for I have sown the same field with wheat again, and
hope, with a favourable season, to reap a still more abundant crop
next year.
* * * * *
_To the same._
CLITHEROE, _October 12th_, 1844.
SIR,--Last October you published an account of an attempt of mine
to grow wheat on the same land year after year; and, as I have
repeated the experiment this year, I shall be obliged if you will
be kind enough to insert the account of it in the "Guardian," as
the subject appears to me to be an important one; and, as many
persons who may read this letter may either not have seen the
former, or may have forgotten it, I trust that a short summary of
the former experiments may not be out of place.
These experiments took place in the autumn of 1841, after the
field had been cleared of a crop of oats, which was a very bad
one; the land being not only naturally poor, but foul and
exhausted by long cropping. As the season was very wet, it was
indifferently cleaned, and one-fourth of it manured with a compost
of night-soil and ashes, and then the field was sowed with wheat.
Two of the remaining three-fourths were manured on the 6th of May,
1842 (the spring being a very dry one, no rain came until that
day), one with guano, the other with nitrate of soda, each at the
rate of two hundredweight to the statute acre, and the remaining
fourth was left unmanured.
The following were the results at harvest:--That manured with
night-soil and ashes produced 32 bushels of 60 lbs. per acre;
guano, 27 bushels; nitrate of soda, 27 bushels; unmanured, 19 2/3
bushels. When the field had been cleared of the crop, it was
immediately ploughed up, and, as the season was favourable, the
land was well cleaned and sowed with wheat in October, 1842,
without any manure except 1 cwt. of guano, which was scattered
over it when the wheat was coming up. The field was divided into
three portions, and in April, 1843, was manured as follows:--No.
1, with 90 lbs. of sulphate of magnesia, and 2 cwt. nitrate of
soda to the statute acre; No. 2, with a compound from a
manufacturer of chemical manures; No. 3, with 60 lbs. of silicate
of soda and 2 cwt. of nitrate of soda to the acre; and, with the
view of still further varying the experiment, a part of each
portion was sowed with guano a fortnight after the application of
the chemical manures. The crop promised to be a very good one, but
it was much plundered by the birds, and as the summer was wet, it
suffered also much from rust. Allowing for the destruction
occasioned by the birds, the crop was estimated at:
41 1/4 bushels in patch No. 1,
36 " " No. 2,
41 1/4 " " No. 3,
and in that part of No. 3 which was also covered with guano, it
reached by actual weight (not by estimate), 53 bushels of 60 lbs.
to the acre. Those patches in Nos. 1 and 2 which had guano put on
them, suffered so much from the depredations of the birds, that no
account was taken of them separately. The crop was cleared off the
land, which was cleaned, and again sowed with wheat on 3rd
October, 1843. It was drilled in rows seven inches apart, and at
the rate of 2 1/2 bushels to the acre. It is to the results of
this crop that I now wish to call your attention. Before sowing,
the land was subsoiled to the depth of from 14 to 16 inches;
except a strip of about 10 feet in width, down the middle of the
field, which was left untouched for the purpose of determining
what were the advantages derived from subsoiling. If the advantage
was merely that of thorough draining (for the field had not been
thoroughly drained previous to the subsoiling), it was thought
probable that this strip of 10 feet wide would be drained by the
subsoiling on each side of it; but if, in addition to this, the
wheat plant derived more nourishment by striking its root deeper
into the soil, where that was loosened by the subsoil plough, the
crop ought to be better in the subsoiled than in the unsubsoiled
part. The field runs over the ridge of a hill, and upon that ridge
the soil is so poor and thin, that it was deemed expedient to give
it a slight dressing of coal-ashes and night-soil, from an idea
that the plant would scarcely survive the winter unless some
stimulus were applied there; but the ashes contained little
manure, and were only applied to the worst part of the field,
covering about one-third of its surface. The wheat was Spalding's
Prolific; it came up evenly and well all over the field. It was
hand-sowed with lime early in February to the extent of about 24
cwt. of dry lime on the acre. In order to ascertain the value of
lime, and the proper quantity, I had the field uniformly covered
with it, except one land, which was left entirely without, and the
headlands, which had one three, the other six times as much lime
put upon them as any other part. The field was also dressed with a
chemical manure of the following ingredients on the 16th March,
costing:--