PROCEEDINGS OF THE CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 401 



tremely variable, and the rainfall decidedly above the average. 

 The crop was weighed on the 2Gth and 27th .November, the 

 weather being dry and favourable ; but previous to this there 

 had been several days of frost unusually severe for the season, 

 by which the leaves were a good deal damaged. The roots of 

 one of the No. 11 plots were somewhat affected by finger-and- 

 toe, but all the others were healthy. The results are contained 

 in Tables VIII. and IX. 



Experiments made in the Roxburghshire District. 



The Experiments made in the Roxburghshire district have 

 proved far less favourable than those in East Lothian — only 

 those of Mr. Nisbet having been brought to a successful 

 termination. 



Mr. Hardie, Harrietfield, sowed his lots on the 21st June, and 

 the crop brairded satisfactorily. On the 28th and 31st July, 

 they were singled by hand, and hoed on the 24th August, and 

 appeared to be going on favourably. In the middle of October, 

 however, they were found to be so much injured, apparently by 

 the stoppage of a drain, that Mr. Hardie came to the conclusion 

 that it was entirely useless to weigh them, as the results could 

 only be fallacious. 



A similar fate befell those made by Mr. Dove, Ecclesnewton. 

 The field in which the experiments were made was sown with 

 the ordinary crop on the. 12th June, but the experimental 

 turnips were not put in till the 14th. This trifling difference 

 of two days made the most extraordinary difference in the pro- 

 gress of the turnips. The field brairded well and equally, and 

 turned out a fair and uniform crop of from 18 to 20 tons per 

 acre ; but the experimental turnips, though sown only two days 

 after the rest, did not braird at all till three weeks later, and 

 then so unequally that they had to be thinned at three different 

 times, and proved a very poor and irregular crop. Mr. Dove 

 allowed them to grow as long as possible, hoping that some con- 

 clusions might be drawn from them ; but upon weighing them, 

 he found the results so anomalous, as to be entirely useless. 



Experiments made by Mr. Nisbet, at Rumbleton, Greenlaw, Dimse. 



These experiments were made on a light turnip soil, situated 

 550 feet above the sea. The field has been cultivated since 

 1833, on the five course system — namely, oats, turnips, barley, 

 and two years grass. The land had been manured on each of the 

 two previous rotations, with 10 to 12 tons dung, and 3 to 4 cwt. 

 dissolved bones applied to the fallow tracts. The experimental 

 plots were sown on the 14th June, the day being favourable for 

 the purpose. Rain fell on the 15th and 16th. On the 21st the 

 crops brairded, after which there was continuous dry weather 



