REPORT OF FIELD EXPERIMENTS. 1 



25th. This was, of course, far later than it should have been in 

 order to reap the full benefit, but being unable to try them sooner, 

 it was thought that if the dressings paid when applied at this 

 time, a fortiori, would they pay if applied earlier. The plots 

 were marked off by wires on these " lands," such a length being 

 taken as made exactly ^gth of an acre per plot, and the whole 

 arranged as in Table II., from which it is seen that each manure 

 was tried in duplicate. It was thought better in this case, owing 

 to the ground being in " lands," and the consequent slight in- 

 equality in the height of the " lands," to adopt ^th of an acre 

 as the size, instead of T x^th of an acre, which Dr Anderson re- 

 commends in ordinary cases. 



On May 16th the nitrate of soda, and all the dressings in which 

 it occurred, looked the best, next the sulphate of ammonia, which 

 at first had been rather scorched, and then the guano. All these 

 looking far better than the nothing plots. 



On June 26th they appeared in the following order : — 1st, 

 Nitrate of soda and sulphate ammonia. 2d and 3d, Nitrate of 

 soda = to sulphate ammonia. 4th and 5th, Peruvian guano 

 = Peruvian guano and nitrate of soda. 6th, Nothing. 



On August 16th the plots appeared as follows to the eye : — 

 1st and 2d, Peruvian guano and nitrate of soda = nitrate of 

 soda and sulphate ammonia. 3d, 4th, and 5th, Peruvian guano 

 = sulphate ammonia = nitrate of soda. The sulphate of am- 

 monia appeared the most laid, and not quite as ripe as the rest. 



The plots were cut on August 16th, the wheat remained in 

 stook till the 25th, during which period the weather was dry and 

 hot, so that it was in first-rate condition to thrash on that day. 

 The weight of crop per plot of both grain and straw are seen in 

 Table III. From the average weight on the duplicate plots the 

 weight of grain and straw was calculated per acre, and by reckon- 

 ing the bushel at 63 lbs. the yield by measure was obtained. 

 This, together with the exact weight per bushel, is given in Table 

 III., as well as the value of each crop, taking the average price 

 of wheat at 48s. (which this far exceeded), and the price of 

 straw at £2 per ton, which in this neighbourhood it usually 

 exceeds. It is seen from this table, taking the increase of 

 straw into consideration, that all the dressings have been re- 

 munerative. 



The sulphate of ammonia alone has given rather the best 

 results, giving a clear profit, above that of the ordinary crop, of 

 22s. in grain, and 30s. in grain and straw together. The profit 

 from the other applications is seen in the table. It will be seen 

 from the table of rainfall that the first five weeks were consider- 

 ably drier than in the average of seasons, and during this period 

 the nitrate of soda took the lead, and the guano did not do so 

 well. Then, during June the rainfall of 4 - 4 inches was remark- 



