348 



EXPERIMENTS WITH DIFFERENT 



were cut near the farther ends of the plots, so as to leave standing 

 exactly an acre of each. 



The Hopetoun looked ripe on September 5th, but, owing to 

 wet weather, was not shorn till the 7th. The others were cut 

 as they came ripe. None of the lots were at all laid. All were 

 cut dry, but rain fell to some extent every day till they were 

 stacked ; there was always sufficient wind, however, to prevent 

 sprouting, when the stooks were kept on end. 



They were put up, two in each stack, with a thick division 

 of oat straw between them. 



The season 1864 in Ayrshire was an average one for wheat, 

 and the above results are fair samples of our average crops. 



1865 Eocperiment. 



The field in which this experiment was made stands at an 

 altitude of 100 feet. The soil, subsoil, and drainage are similar 

 to the field used last year. Both fields lie well to the sun, are 

 unprotected by wooding, and are almost entirely free from game. 



In 1861 this field carried oats, after three years old pasture; 

 1862, Italian ryegrass; 1863, oats; 1864, drilled beans. The 

 manures applied in 1862, 1863, and 1864 were the same 

 throughout the land used for experiment. 



The second week of November being dry and settled looking, 

 the land was ploughed, and laid off before sowing in plots of one 

 acre each, with a two feet division between them. Owing to a 

 mistake, only 3 roods 35 poles w r ere laid off in plot 3 ; all the 

 extensions, however, in the following tables are given calculated 

 per acre, in order to make them comparable with the results 



