112 ON EESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS WITH 



simply destroying a large portion of the valuable nitrate, so far 

 as manure is concerned, besides turning the mixture into so wet 

 a mortar, that it cannot be properly spread over the soil. 

 Although the phosphatic manures are in really very good condi- 

 tion, they should never be mixed with the nitrate of soda until 

 they are to be applied to the soil, as there is always more or less 

 free acid in these manures. I used this mixture pretty exten- 

 sively for several years, owing to the low price of nitrate in the 

 market, but it gave so uncertain results that I have ceased to use 

 it for the last two seasons. In a wet spring it did not do well, 

 and the results, when the grain came to be threshed, were even 

 worse than those shown by guano. In a dry spring a great bulk 

 can be grown with it, but the grain is both light in weight and of 

 indifferent colour. 



No. VI. (dissolved bones) does not bring the grain away so well 

 at first, and gives the grub, when that pest is prevalent, a better 

 chance of committing havoc amongst it. Unless in a very wet 

 season, it grows less bulk of straw and grain than any of the 

 others, but what does grow is of the finest quality and weight of any. 



No. VII. (superphosphate of lime) is not at all suited as a fer- 

 tiliser for oats when used by itself on my soil, and the results are 

 very little better than no manure at all, thus showing conclu- 

 sively that oats require some nitrogenous compound to stimulate 

 them in the earlier stages of their growth. 



During the years I have been conducting these experiments, I 

 have always sown my manures on the plough furrows before har- 

 rowing, and have sown my oats with a six-inch seed drill, at the 

 rate ,of 3i to 3| bushels per acre. 



Barley. — In the five years' rotation in wliich I work the farm, 

 this is a very important crop, as the grass seeds have to be sown 

 along with it, and something more is necessary than merely to 

 grow a good crop of barley, for the succeeding two years of grass 

 must be taken into account, and what is likely to benefit them 

 be applied at the same time. I have found barley to be a very 

 easily forced crop, but have had some difficulty in finding a suit- 

 able mixture, which would grow a fair crop of barley and do good 

 to the succeeding grass crop the year following. I have found 

 that nitrogenous compounds have to be applied a httle more 

 sparingly than with oats, or else the barley is grown very rapidly 

 and too soft in the straw, thereby lodging and rotting out the 

 grass, besides damaging the grain. I have never used any potash 

 with barley mixtures, as I always apply it with root crops, where 

 it has the chance of getting better inc(_ rporated with the subsoil. 



I have found the following mixtures of manures, after repeated 

 experiments, suit best for the double purpose of growing the 

 barley crop up to a fair average, and also forcing the grass the 

 season following : — 



