EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS — REPORT FOR 1880. 363 



bone meal. This manure, though it had been ground to a coarse 

 powder, does not seem to have come into very active operation 

 until two years after its application. Had it been more finely 

 ground, and if it had also been steamed to rid it of its excess of 

 fatty matter, it would doubtless have acted more quickly ; but 

 in any case the experiment shows the beneficial effect of bone 

 meal upon the hay crop two years after its application. 



Peruvian guano also (plot 23) is a manure which has yielded 

 a reserve of nourishment for the hay crop, wdiile also serving as 

 an effective manure to the crops to wdiich it was immediately 

 applied. 



Fish guano (plot 24) has not realised the expectation enter- 

 tained of it, but this is doubtless due to the oily nature of the 

 manure. In future care will be taken to employ only defatted 

 fish guano in these experiments ; for it is unquestionable that 

 this is a very important, as it is a never-failing source of phos- 

 phoric acid and ammonia, and it ought to be procurable in such 

 a form as will make it an effective and reliable manure. 



These are the more important facts brought out by the hay 

 crop at Pumpherston. The crop at Harelaw was not analysed, 

 as the station had not been manured since the first year of the 

 rotation, the land being rather rich for experimental purposes. 

 The smallness of the crop this year shows that its fertility has 

 been considerably reduced, and the slight differences observed in 

 the various plots shows that it is a very even field, and in good 

 condition for the experiments which are to follow. 



Turnip Crop, 1880. 



Owing to the new arrangement affecting the y}^ acre plots, 

 these were this year put under roots. At Pumpherston, the 

 soil appropriated to these plots had been thoroughly mixed 

 and rendered as nearly uniform as possible ; while at Harelaw 

 the corresponding plots had not been manured for the pre- 

 vious barley crop. Accordingly the four-year rotation has been 

 started on these plots two years later than on the large plots 

 of both stations, and it is hoped by this arrangement to arrive 

 more rapidly at the solution of the questions wliich are l)eiug 

 asked in our experiments. 



Before stating the results, it is necessary to say a few words 

 regarding the cliaracter of the season, for soils which are 

 manured with light manures alone are much more easily 

 affected by climatic inliuences than those on which farmyard 

 manure or other heavy manures are employed. If the weather 

 is too dry, light manures have little chance of doing much good, 

 for, as they are concentrated forms of manure, it is above all 

 things essential that they should be dis.solved by rain in order 

 that they may be distributed through the soil. On the other 



