EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS — EEPOET FOE 1880. 



361 



Hay Crop, Pumpherston — continued. 



The amount of dry matter per acre taken off by the hay 

 crop averages about a ton, or about as much as was contained 

 in the straw of the barley crop. About one-sixteentli of this, 

 or 1\ cwt., consists of mineral matter, about one-third 

 or 7 cwts. consists of indi<?estible woody fibre ; while the 

 remainder represents that part of the hay which is good for 

 food. By adding together the ash and woody fibre, and sub- 

 tracting the result from the total dry matter, we obtain the 

 figures in the last column showing the amounts of actual food 

 obtained from the various plots. It averages a little more 

 than half a ton per acre, and ranges from about 8 cwts. to 

 nearly double that quantity. This is a small amount of food 

 to take from an acre of ground, but it must be remembered 

 that it represents only the first cutting of what was at best 

 a very light crop, that no manure had been applied to the 

 crop, and also that the hay consisted of Italian rye grass alone. 

 The snudlest yield was that of plot 22, which had been manured 

 for the previous croji with sulphate of potash alone. This has 

 all along been the poorest plot on the station, and it would 

 almost seem as if the soil had been poisoned with sul2->liate 

 of potash, for its neighbour plot 18, whicli received no potash, 



