PROCEEDINGS OF THE CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 223 



there are very large discrepancies in the results, which it is some- 

 what difficult to explain. Part of them, however, appear to de- 

 pend on want of uniformity of the soil. The plots were laid out 

 exactly as represented in the diagram in page 219 ; that which is 

 there on the left hand being to the north on the field, and on the 

 whole the largest results are on the most northern and eastern 

 plots. Now, it will be noticed that the arrangement of the dupli- 

 cate plots is made such that, when an average of the two is taken, 

 the errors due to this cause, as far as possible, neutralise one 

 another. Suppose, for example, the soil had been found to be 

 best at what is the left hand side of the diagram, and gradually 

 to diminish in quality towards the right, and this space had 

 been entirely manured in the same way, of course a plot taken 

 in the middle would give the average of the whole, and the same 

 number would be given by the mean of the extreme right and 

 left plots, because the one would be as much above as the other 

 is below the average. In order to secure this, it will be noticed 

 that the duplicates are always placed equidistant from the 

 middle plots, and hence the average of the two ought in all 

 cases to be more correct than either separately. Even with this, 

 however, there are discrepancies which cannot be explained ; but 

 still I am inclined to think that some conclusions may be drawn 

 from these experiments, although they must be taken with a cer- 

 tain amount of reservation. 



It is noticeable especially that muriate of potash produces but 

 little effect. It adds, no doubt, somewhat to the crop when used 

 alone, but along with coprolites and guano it gives no increase. 

 The largest crop of all, however, is that in which dissolved guano 

 is associated with it and sulphate of ammonia. It appears also 

 that the ready formed ammonia on the whole surpasses the glue. 



JExjperiments made by Mr Dove, Ecclcsncivton. 



These experiments were made on a fair average soil, the pre- 

 vious cropping of which was — 1863, yellow turnips manured 

 with 12 loads dung and 3 cwt. of dissolved bones per acre ; 1864, 

 barley; 1865, grass pastured; and 1866, oats. The turnips were 

 sown on the 13th June, and the weather was dry for some time 

 after, light showers having fallen on the 22d and on the 4th 

 July. The crop brairded rather unequally. During the month of 

 July much rain fell. The plants were inspected on 2d August, 

 when the nothing plots were observed to be very weak, though 

 on all the others the plants seemed strong. During the remainder 

 of the season the weather was much broken and very disadvan- 

 tageous to the turnips, which has given a bad yield throughout 

 the whole of Mr Dove's district. The results of his experiments 

 are contained in Tables III. and IV. 



