PROCEEDINGS OF THE CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 211 



available, and the loss in the other cases is much greater- Now 

 the manure is supplied to the crop under the most favourable cir- 

 cumstances which the farmer can provide. It is placed in the 

 drill near the roots of the plant, and the rain which falls, if not 

 too excessive, conveys it down gradually, so that as the crop 

 grows it should find a supply at the point where it is most 

 required, and yet a large proportion of it is used in vain so far as 

 that year is concerned. It remains in the soil, no doubt, available 

 for future crops, which, doubtless, must sooner or later make use 

 of it, but it is certain that it is then less advantageously employed, 

 The perfection of manuring would be to manage matters so that the 

 crop to which it was applied should exhaust the whole fertilising 

 effect of the manure ; but this is a consummation we can never 

 expect to reach in practice, though we are probably destined to 

 approach much nearer it than we now do. 



I refrain from entering at the present moment into any 

 detailed discussion of the relation of the soils which have been 

 analysed to one another. The data which are supplied by the 

 experiments of a single season do not afford grounds for forming 

 definite opinions, and any conclusions which we might draw at the 

 present time might be liable to subversion by the results of 

 another season, in which different conditions of weather, &c, may 

 prevail. In conducting such inquiries, the patience is sorely 

 tried, and one is constantly tempted to rush into conclusions 

 which prudence, and the true spirit of scientific investigation, 

 teach us to postpone until a far larger mass of experimental data 

 has been accumulated. 



REPORT BY DR ANDERSON ON THE RESULTS OF THE FIELD 

 EXPERIMENTS MADE DURING THE SEASON 1867. 



The following pages contain the results of the Field Experi- 

 ments made under the auspices of the Society during the past 

 season, in continuation of those of the previous year, by experi- 

 menters in different districts of the country. These experiments 

 have been conducted on a definite system ; and before entering 

 into their details, I think it necessary to premise a few observa- 

 tions as to the principles on which they have been carried out. 

 It is scarcely necessary to observe that the object of all Field 

 Experiments is a practical one. They aim at determining the 

 relative effects of different manures, in such a manner that the 

 farmer may ascertain from them which will give him the maxi- 

 mum amount of produce, with the minimum of outlay consistent 

 with keeping the soil in proper condition. This result may be 

 arrived at, either by making experiments with different well- 

 known manures (which are, for the most part, very complex 

 mixtures), so as to compare with one another their actions on 



