The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-02-15 00:00:00

DORCHESTER FARMERS' CLUB.

One of the most intsresting meetings of this club
was held at the King's Arms Hotel on Saturday even-
ing last. Mr. H. W. Hawkins presided, and there
were also present :—Mr. R. Cense (Waterson), Mr.
Chapman Saunders, Mr. Day, Mr. Brown (Maiden
Newton), Mr. Mtwara (Dorset County Hospital),
Mr. J. Lush, Mr. Taylor, Mr. W. Chick, and Mr.
Pearce.

At the commencement the CHAIRMAN proposed and
Mr. Ganns seconded! Mr. Messum am s member of
the club. _ . .

This was carried unanimously.
The CH...lee/a then said the next meeting of the
club would be on March 12th. Failing to get •
lecture for that occasion he had thought it would be
a very good plan to have a discussion on the Employers'
Liability Bill, so far NI regarded them as agriculturists.
It was very necessary that they should discuss it, and
know how they stood in the matter.
Dr. Day (Medical Officer of Health for the
Borough), then read the following interesting paper
The choice of the subject for discussion this evening,
having been left entirely to me, it has been my
endeavour to bring before you the one I thought most
interesting, especially at this time of the year, viz..,
"Natural and Artificial Manures." The scientific
part I shall speak of, and leave the practical in your
panda • should you find me digressing, it will be
unwittingly, in endeavouring to make "dry bones •
ulittle leSe dry" to Busse gentlemen I ate addressing
who are not agriculturists. AU technicalities, as far,
as convenient, will be omitted, and matter not
relevant, for ills impossible, in the time at my
disposal, to give more than a brief outline. The
manures, it must be understood, which give carbon,
hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen to plants, are termed
organic (wild plants get these from the air), and those
which bold the mineral Ingredients contained in
planta, inorganic. To commence with the Greeks and
Romans, who extensively used manures, will be dating
sufficiently far back; for their supplies they relied on
marl, a mixture of clay, chalk, and sand' ashes from
trees; and thrushes, pigeons, and blackbirds, their
flesh being considered an extravagant indulgenee, after
being fed on a mixture of floor, bruised fige, &c.; also
• cure for weak stomachs. Pompey being 111, a thrush
was prescribed, which had to be obtained from the
Roman consul Lucullns, far famed for this luxury, but
the celebrated general would not eat the thrush attar
all, and he regained his strength. Later on we find
the Chinese paying.grat attention to the land, respect-
ing which they believed, and still do, that all the
constituents, taken out of the land by vegetation,
should be replaced by the mama. With them I
quite agree; therefore it will be necessary sow to
consider what is the nature of the various soils you
gentlemen have to cultivate. Epitomised, we have
gravel, with chalk as subsoil, Bradford, Came,
Charminster, Frampton, Knighton, blacktop,
Stapleton, Stratton, Winterborne, and Woodsford,
which is the only village on a sandy soil; Long-
bredy has • light soil with chalk beneath, and se
has Puddletown, but is more sandy; loam at Athol-
hampton, Dewlish, Godmanstone, Little Brody,
Paddialiintou, Tinolitton Tolpuddle, with ohs& as
lab soiL The loam at Safford lies upon gravel, amid at
Broadway there is also clay; at Bun4ord we find
gravel and chalk beneath the loam. Clay at Macomb*,
Broadway, Martinstown, Covey, Warmwell, Whit.
comb*, with chalk as sub-soll, exce/pting Broadway,
which has gravel. It is a curious fact that clay is
man in the island of Java, being sold to the vi
in small cakes, and further • clay of a reddishltrocu;
it chewed in India to cure the demise we call Derby-
shire neck. In Germany "mountain meal," aad
Sweden "bread meal," both composed of day are
consumed by the wagon load. The Orinoco Indians
lona the clay into balls about six inches in diameter,
bake that before • slow fire, and swallow about a
pound daily. In Peru and the Bolivian market., a
grey coloured clay is bought, and after losing boiled it
it asasosed with salt to make a vary primitive soup,
end eaten with bitter potatoes. Now I propose to
pass over In brevity's sake, sulphate of potash used in
manures for the coffee plant, sulphate of magnesia
(Epsom salts) applied occastionally to the potato, a
native of Chill. The very niaoluable sulphate of
lime gypsum mixed manures, those composed of
flesh' ,
rags, wool dust, dried blood, ac., to speak of
hone manure which has sold hl the market many
years for pasture and root crops, from the ground
bone the first superphosphate of lime was made by
treating it with sulphuric raid, oil of vitriol in
dissolved bones, the nitrogen should be equal to five,
and the phosphates 355. of which no Isis than 26 per
sent. ought to be inaluble ; bons maal Isnot.° reaMy
absorbed as dissolved bones. The composition of
bones may be roughly stated thus, phosphate of
lime 46, carbonate of lime (chalk), ten, animal
matter, 44 per cent. Closely allied is the mineral
phosphate of lime obtained from coprolitm, the
petrified MUM of the carnivorous mama dung,
stretching from this ootuity to the north-eastern
counties; it was first discovered in Cambridge. The
great drawback is that it contains no nitrogen. The
greenish native phosphate of lime in sir-sided prisms,
termed Apitits, the insoluble parts of the
used amongst other minerals, such as brick-dust,
sarhes, chalk, he Theta, with a sprinkling Of ground
bona are used in cheap manures, and look to all
appearance Us good one., consequently they fetch £7
or ES, the actnal coat being leas than 10s. per ton. Of
course the only plan to stop this systataatio robbery is
to send the sample to the public analyst, acting in that
capacity for this borough and being a Fellow of the
Chemical Society of Loildon, I would with pises="
furnish any analyses, and so expos. an, frau& The
acid in the soluble phosphate of llme is powerful.
consequantly if not oounteracted bi teiThraye gkall In the
earth it will injure the plant. Bather more than 50
ears ago, some 10,000 tone of nitrate of soda were
y
imported, and found to contain about twofer aut, of
common salt. The nitrogen in the shape dnitric acid
is apt to be lost when applied to fie/ds that are drained,
and sometimes also nitrogen in the form of ammonia
Is so lost • but, forWataly, such is not the case with
add and potato, the other chief ingredients
r.mrin.tun's This particular salt being very IliPentires
It is adulterated occasionally with rock salt, which is
mach cheaper. This manure should not contain lass
than 96 per cent, of the pure nitrate. Guano derives
its as ft= " Hann." a Peruvian word, signifying
" dune and was int brought into Liverpool 45 years
mg% by the liagair. s bdis. Mow yew Attie it had