a24 



EXPERIMEJsTAL STATIONS — REPOET FOK 1881, 



total amount of grain produced on these two stations is consider- 

 ably modified by the unequal proportion of light grain, so that the 

 total increase of grain per acre is reduced at Harelaw to 15 per 

 cent., while at Pumpherston it is increased to about 30 per cent. 



Lastly, if we regard the amount of straw produced by the 

 application of these two forms of phosphate, we again see results 

 which are dissimilar, though to a less extent. At Pumpherston 

 the dissolving of the phosphat-es caused an increase of 3 cwt. per 

 acre of straw, but at Harelaw it produced 1 cwt. per acre less. 



The soil and climatic conditions of Pumpherston are more 

 favourable to the production of straw than of grain ; and we 

 find that the proportion of straw to grain at that station is greater 

 than at Harelaw. Pioughly speaking, the proportion of straw to 

 grain at Pumpherston is about 10 to 6, while at Harelaw it is 

 about 10 to 8. The proportion of straw to grain, while it is 

 thus shown to be much under the influence of soil and climate, 

 is also powerfully affected by manuring, and the phosphate plots 

 form a good illustration of this. 



Proportion of Straw to Grain. 



We see from these figures that one very marked effect of the 

 application of phosphates in the soluble form is to increase the 

 proportion of grain to straw. At Pumpherston the increase is 

 nearly 14 per cent., while at Harelaw it is loj per cent., and it 

 would have been nearer 20 per cent, at the latter station but for 

 the great falling off on plot 8, a circumstance which is explained 

 by the very insoluble form of nitrogenous manure which this plot 

 received four years ago. This is a difference which will rapidly 

 disappear, and it is remarkable that it has persisted so long. 



The increase in the proportion of grain to straw has a very 



