218 CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 



to each other. The plots had begun to tell their tale m 1879, 

 and in 1888 they had the same tale to tell, but in an ex- 

 aggerated degree. Now that the manures have been discon- 

 tinued, the plots have gone back very much to where they were 

 on the second year of the experiments. Plots 1, 2, 3, and 4 bear 

 the same relation to each other as they did eight years before, 

 but they are decidedly lower in fertility. Eight years ago 

 these plots were above average, but since then they have lost 

 ground, and they are seen to have been below average, both in 

 1883 and 1887. Plot 1 is made to show better than it ought, 

 because it is the plot next the hedge, which used to shelter 

 sheep from the west wind in former years, and the additional 

 fertility conveyed to it on that account persists after twelve 

 years. Plots 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are very much in the position 

 they were in 1879, only that they have improved relatively to 

 the first four plots. The hone meal plot (5), although it is 

 somewhat better than at first, is not so good as one might have 

 expected. It had been improving, and in 1883 was on a level 

 with plot 4, but since then it seems to have lost ground. 

 That may be more apparent than real, however, for 1883 was 

 a wet year, and therefore favourable to the activity of bone 

 meal and other insoluble phosphates. The dissolved hone plot 

 (6) is now one of the best plots on the station. It is evident 

 that dissolved bones, if it be really pure dissolved bones, as the 

 manure on this plot was, is an excellent kind of manure for 

 maintaining fertility. After it comes dissolved phosphatic guano 

 (8), which has always been a good manure. The nitrate of soda 

 plot (13) is exactly in the same position as it was eight years ago, 

 but the sulphate of ammonia one (14) has improved a little. One 

 of the most remarkable things on the station is the greatly im- 

 proved position of the horn dust plot (15). In 1879 it was 

 one of the poorest on the station, and in 1883 it was the 

 poorest of the fully manured plots. The nitrogenous manure, 

 which seemed to have been applied to it in vain in former 

 years, has been lying dormant in the soil, and is now dissolving 

 and contributing to the growth of crops. This plot, it will 

 be seen, has improved more than any other on the station, and 

 it is probable that next year, or the year following, it will sur- 

 pass all the rest, for owing to the smallness of the crops hitherto 

 growm upon it, there has not been the same amount of exhaus- 

 tion going on on it as on the others. The plot which received 

 its nitrogenous manure in the form of dried blood (16) has all 

 along been a good plot, and now it is the best on the station. 

 These two plots show the great value of insoluble but finely 

 ground nitrogenous manures as fertilisers of the soil, and 

 although the usual object in employing light manures is to 

 increase the quantity of the crop to which they are immediately 



