EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS — REPORT FOR 1881. 325 



important meaning. It means not only the production of a 

 crop which is in itself more valuable, but it also means that the 

 time of the tilling of the ears has set in earlier, and that the crop 

 has arrived sooner at maturity, thus confirming the observation 

 frequently made on these stations that one marked effect of the 

 use of dissolved phosphate is to hasten the time of ripening, and 

 advance the harvest by about ten days or a fortnight. In our 

 uncertain climate an advance of ten days in the time of harvesting 

 is an advantage which farmers are not likely to underestimate. 



Among the nitrogenous manures (plots 13 to 18) the most 

 remarkable thing to notice is the large crop obtained on plot 15, 

 which was manured with horn dust. This plot had hitherto re- 

 ceived its nitrogenous manure in the form of shoddy, but the 

 manure had proved so entire a failure that it was thought use- 

 less to continue the application of a substance which, in its 

 natural state scarcely deserves to rank as a manure. It is used 

 by manufacturers as a source of nitrogen in dissolved manures 

 such as ammoniacal superphosphate and dissolved bones, and in 

 such combinations may furnish a nitrogenous material quite as 

 effective as the nitrogen contained in pure dissolved bones, but 

 in its natural state it is so protected by grease and the mechani- 

 cal condition in w^hich it is supplied that it does not come into 

 operation as a nitrogenous manure. Accordingly a slow-acting 

 nitrogenous manure was sought for to take the place of shoddy 

 on plot 15, and horn dust was selected. Horn is a substance 

 which has the composition of hair and wool, and is indeed just a 

 kind of solid agglutinated hair. It is known to be a very in- 

 soluble substance, and pieces of it remain in the soil for many 

 years with very little change. It w^as therefore a great surprise 

 to find how remarkablv effective a nitrorrenous manure it has 

 proved itself to be. The appearance of the plot shortly after 

 brairding was not very promising. In bulk and general vigour 

 it was much behind plots 13 and 14, which received nitrate of 

 soda and sulphate of ammonia respectively, but as the season 

 progressed it put on a very vigorous growth, and was shot nearly 

 a week before the neighbouring plots. It tillered well and 

 assumed a very handsome appearance, and it ripened early and 

 in the end was the best of the nitrogenous plots at Pumpherston 

 and the second best at Harelaw. The explanation of this unex- 

 pected result must be looked for in the very fine state of division 

 of the horn dust. It is supplied in the form of exceedingly fine 

 saw-dust, and the result attained affords a striking instance of 

 the great advantage secured by the fine grinding of manures 

 which are not rapidly soluble. Nitrate of soda showed itself 

 superior to sulphate of ammonia in its effect upon the oat crops 

 in every way except in the weight per bushel of grain. 



Other nitrogenous manures experimented on were dried blood, 

 rape cake dust, cotton cake dust, all of which are insoluble and 



