274 EXPERDIEXTAL STATIONS — REPORT FOE 1879. 



PUMPHERSTON RoOD PlOTS. 



These three sets of experiments speak with one voice.- ISTot only 

 are the averages in favonr of the dissolved phosphates, but the 

 individuals formincj them are nearlv all so, with one notable 

 exception, — plot 1 at Punipherston. There is no doubt that it is 

 too high. This is not due to any mistake in the experiment, but 

 to the superiority of the land on that one plot, a superiority 

 which is confirmed by the result of this year's barley crop, and 

 which is explained by a treatment the land received before the 

 station was established. 



Had that plot been normal, the average crop on the undissolved 

 plots at Punipherston would have been about 19 tons. The 

 averages of these united experiments would then l.ie for the un- 

 dissolved phosphates 15 tons 6 cwts., and for the dissolved plots 

 16 tons 14 cwts., showing that about 10 per cent, more turnips 

 were produced by the dissolving of the j)liosphates. 



On examining the third columns of these tal)les to see which 

 form of phosphate was most effective, we find the results are 

 somewhat conflicting. The least productive are the bone dust 

 plots, but that is probably to be ascribed as much to the less 

 active form of nitrogen contained in bone as to inferiority in 

 the form of phosphate. 



The results of the analyses of the crops on these plots come 

 next to be considered. The analysis of a turnip crop is a difficult 

 undertaking, and to be perfectly reliable must be conducted on a 

 very large scale ; the samples must be very numerous and care- 

 fully selected. In sampling this crop forty turnips of average 

 size were picked from each plot and analysed in batches of ten 

 at different times, and in the results recorded below it is the 

 averages of tliese analysis that are taken. Forty turnips per 

 plot is however too small a number, and in future five times that 

 amount will be taken, and means of analysis adopted on a much 

 more extensive scale. It should therefore be remembered in 

 noting the following analytical results that they are derived 

 from very small samples, and, though executed with the greatest 



