Talks on Manures Part 48

"And yet," said the Deacon, "you had a better crop last year on the lower and blacker portions of the field than on the heavy, clayey land."

In one sense, this is true. We had dry weather in the spring, and the mangel seed on the dry, clayey land did not come up as well as on the cooler and moister bottom-land. We had more plants to the acre, but the roots on the clayey land, when they once got fair hold of the soil and the manure, grew larger and better than on the lighter and moister land.

The great point is to get this heavy land into a fine, mellow condition.

But to Mr. Lawes' experiments. They are remarkably interesting and instructive. But it is not necessary to go into all the details. Suffice it to say that the experiments seem to prove, very conclusively, that beets require a liberal supply of available nitrogen. Thus, without manure, the yield of beets was about 7 tons of bulbs per acre.

With 550 lbs. nitrate of soda per acre, the yield was a little over 22 tons per acre. With 14 tons of farmyard-manure, 18 tons per acre. With 14 tons of farmyard manure and 550 lbs. nitrate of soda, over 27 tons per acre.

Superphosphate of lime, sulphates of potash, soda, and magnesia, and common salt, alone, or with other manures, had comparatively little effect.

Practically, when we want to grow a good crop of beets or mangels, these experiments prove that what we need is the richest kind of barnyard-manure.

If our manure is not rich, then we should use, in addition to the manure, a dressing of nitrate of soda--say 400 or 500 lbs. per acre.

If the land is in pretty good condition, and we have no barnyard-manure, we may look for a fair crop from a dressing of nitrate of soda alone.

"I see," said the Deacon, "that 550 lbs. of nitrate of soda alone, gave an increase of 14 tons per acre. And the following year, on the same land, it gave an increase of 13 tons; and the next year, on the same land, over 9 tons."

"Yes," said I, "the first three years of the experiments (1871-2-3), 550 lbs. of nitrate of soda alone, applied every year, gave an average yield of 19 tons of bulbs per acre. During the same three years, the plot dressed with 14 tons of barnyard-manure, gave an average yield of 16 tons. But now mark. The next year (1874) all the plots were left without any manure, and the plot which had been previously dressed with nitrate of soda, alone, fell off to 3 tons per acre, while the plot which had been previously manured with barnyard-manure, produced 10 tons per acre."

"Good," said the Deacon, "there is nothing like manure."

MANURES FOR CABBAGE, PARSNIPS, CARROTS, LETTUCE, ONIONS, ETC.

I cla.s.s these plants together, because, though differing widely in many respects, they have one feature in common. They are all artificial productions.

A distinguished amateur horticulturist once said to me, "I do not see why it is I have so much trouble with lettuce. My land is rich, and the lettuce grow well, but do not head. They have a tendency to run up to seed, and soon get tough and bitter."

I advised him to raise his own seed from the best plants--and especially to reject all plants that showed any tendency to go prematurely to seed.

Furthermore, I told him I thought if he would sow a little superphosphate of lime with the seed, it would greatly stimulate the _early_ growth of the lettuce.

As I have said before, superphosphate, when drilled in with the seed, has a wonderful effect in developing the root-growth of the young plants of turnips, and I thought it would have the same effect on lettuce, cabbage, cauliflowers, etc.

"But," said he, "it is not _roots_ that I want, but heads."

"Exactly," said I, "you do not want the plants to follow out their natural disposition and run up to seed. You want to induce them to throw out a great abundance of tender leaves. In other words, you want them to 'head.' Just as in the turnip, you do not want them to run up to seed, but to produce an unnatural development of 'bulb.'"

Thirty years ago, Dr. Gilbert threw out the suggestion, that while it was evident that turnips required a larger proportion of soluble phosphates in the soil than wheat; while wheat required a larger proportion of available nitrogen in the soil, than turnips, it was quite probable, if we were growing turnips _for seed_, that then, turnips would require the same kind of manures as wheat.

We want exceedingly rich land for cabbage, especially for an early crop.

This is not merely because a large crop of cabbage takes a large amount of plant-food out of the soil, but because the cultivated cabbage is an artificial plant, that requires its food in a concentrated shape. In popular language, the plants have to be "forced."

According to the a.n.a.lyses of Dr. Anderson, the outside leaves of cabbage, contain, in round numbers, 91 per cent of water; and the heart leaves, 94 per cent. In other words, the green leaves contain 3 per cent more dry matter than the heart leaves.

Dr. Vlcker, who a.n.a.lyzed more recently some "cattle-cabbage," found 89 per cent of water in the green leaves, and 83 per cent in the heart and inner leaves--thus confirming previous a.n.a.lyses, and showing also that the composition of cabbages varies considerably.

Dr. Vlcker found much less water in the cabbage than Dr. Anderson.

The specimen a.n.a.lyzed by Dr. V., was grown on the farm of the Royal Ag.

College of England, and I infer from some incidental remarks, that the crop was grown on rather poor land. And it is probably true that a large crop of cabbage grown on rich land, contains a higher percentage of water than cabbage grown on poorer land. On the poor land, the cabbage would not be likely to head so well as on the rich land, and the green leaves of cabbage contain more than half as much again real dry substance as the heart leaves.

The dry matter of the heart leaves, however, contains more actual nutriment than the dry matter of the green leaves.

It would seem very desirable, therefore, whether we are raising cabbage for market or for home consumption, to make the land rich enough to grow good heads. Dr. Vlcker says, "In ordinary seasons, the average produce of Swedes on our poorer fields is about 15 tons per acre. On weighing the produce of an acre of cabbage, grown under similar circ.u.mstances, I found that it amounted to 17 tons per acre. On good, well-manured fields, however, we have had a much larger produce."

In a report on the "Cultivation of Cabbage, and its comparative Value for Feeding purposes," by J. M. M'Laren, of Scotland, the yield of Swede turnips, was 29 tons per acre, and the yield of cabbage, 47 tons per acre.

"It is very evident," said the Deacon, "that if you grow cabbage you should make the land rich enough to produce a good crop--and I take it that is all you want to show."

"I want to show," I replied, "that our market gardeners have reason for applying such apparently excessive dressings of rich manure to the cabbage-crop. They find it safer to put far more manure into the land than the crop can possibly use, rather than run any risk of getting an inferior crop. An important practical question is, whether they can not grow some crop or crops after the cabbage, that can profitably take up the manure left in the soil."

Prof. E. Wolff, in the last edition of "Praktische Dungerlehre," gives the composition of cabbage. For the details of which, see Appendix, page 345.

From this it appears that 50 tons of cabbage contain 240 lbs. of nitrogen, and 1,600 lbs. of ash. Included in the ash is 630 lbs. of potash; 90 lbs. of soda; 310 lbs. of lime; 60 lbs. of magnesia; 140 lbs.

of phosphoric acid; 240 lbs. of sulphuric acid, and 20 lbs. of silica.

Henderson, in "Gardening for Profit," advises the application of 75 tons of stable or barn-yard manure per acre, for early cabbage. For late cabbage, after peas or early potatoes, he says about 10 tons per acre are used.

Brill, in "Farm Gardening and Seed Growing," also makes the same distinction in regard to the quant.i.ty of manure used for early and late cabbage. He speaks of 70 to 80 tons or more, per acre, of well-rotted stable-manure as not an unusual or excessive dressing every year.

Now, according to Wolff's table, 75 tons of fresh stable-manure, with straw, contains 820 lbs. of nitrogen; 795 lbs. of potash; 150 lbs. soda; 315 lbs. of lime; 210 lbs. of magnesia; 420 lbs. of phosphoric acid; 105 lbs. sulphuric acid; 2,655 lbs. of silica, and 60 lbs. of chlorine.

"Put the figures side by side," said the Deacon, "so that we can compare them."

Here they are:

------------------+--------------+----------- _75 tons Fresh Horse _50 tons Manure._ Cabbage._ ------------------+--------------+----------- Nitrogen 820 lbs. 240 lbs.

Potash 795 " 630 "

Phosphoric acid 420 " 140 "

Soda 150 " 90 "

Lime 315 " 310 "

Magnesia 210 " 60 "

"That is rather an interesting table," said the Doctor. "In the case of lime, the crop takes about all that this heavy dressing of manure supplies--but I suppose the soil is usually capable of furnis.h.i.+ng a considerable quant.i.ty."

"That may be so," said the Deacon, "but all the authorities on market gardening speak of the importance of either growing cabbage on land containing lime, or else of applying lime as a manure. Quinn, who writes like a sensible man, says in his book, 'Money in the Garden,' 'A top-dressing of lime every third year, thirty or forty bushels per acre, spread broadcast, and harrowed in, just before planting, pays handsomely.'"

Henderson thinks cabbage can only be grown successfully on land containing abundance of lime. He has used heavy dressings of lime on land which did not contain sh.e.l.ls, and the result was satisfactory for a time, but he found it too expensive.

Experience seems to show that to grow large crops of perfect cabbage, the soil must be liberally furnished with manures rich in nitrogen and phosphoric acid.

In saying this, I do not overlook the fact that cabbage require a large quant.i.ty of potash. I think, however, that when large quant.i.ties of stable or barn-yard manure is used, it will rarely be found that the soil lacks potash.

What we need to grow a large crop of cabbage, is manure from well-fed animals. Such manure can rarely be purchased. Now, the difference between rich manure and ordinary stable or barnyard-manure, consists princ.i.p.ally in this: The rich manure contains more nitrogen and phosphoric acid than the ordinary stable-manure--and it is in a more available condition.