224 . CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 



especially during seasons of drought. Had 1887 been a mode- 

 rately wet season these great differences would not have been 

 observed. In our uncertain climate it is a difficult matter to 

 anticipate the rainfall ; but we have in this record abundant 

 evidence that in the event of a dry season there is no more 

 powerful aid at the command of a farmer than nitrate of soda 

 in enabling him to force away a cereal crop, and give its roots 

 an opportunity of penetrating to a depth where the ground 

 water is capable of supplying the moisture requisite for the 

 proper growth of the crop. 



Among the phosphate plots there are three — plots 4, 5, and 

 6 — that have disappointed my expectations. They do not 

 resemble the corresponding plots at Pumpherston, but show a 

 very marked deficiency. During the early part of the season 

 the dissolved bones plot (6) gave better promise than any plot 

 on the station, and plot 4 was not very far behind it ; but all 

 these plots evidently suffered much from drought, for they were 

 checked in their growth as the season advanced, and they 

 ripened very early. 



As regards the nitrogenous manures, the results at Harelaw 

 are very like those at Pumpherston. The nitrate of soda and 

 sulphate of ammonia have done equally well, but the most 

 noticeable results are those obtained on plots 15 and 16, which 

 had their nitrogenous manure supplied respectively in the form 

 of horn dust and dried blood. It will be seen that, despite the 

 very dry season, they are on a par with the nitrate of soda and 

 sulphate of ammonia plots. This is a circumstance which is 

 well worthy of attention. It has been shown in former years 

 that these two manures do not decompose quickly enough in the 

 soil to supply the wants of a cereal crop, and that they produced 

 their best effects during wet seasons ; nevertheless, we are pre- 

 sented with the fact that during the dry summer of 1887 these 

 two slowly-acting nitrogenous manures have been as effective, 

 or even more effective, than nitrate of soda and sulphate of 

 ammonia. It seems probable, therefore, that the quantities of 

 these substances applied in April 1887 had a subordinate part 

 in making the barley crop of that year, and that the residues of 

 them applied in former years, but especially in 1886, have helped 

 to produce so satisfactory a result. The large amount of 

 organic matter contained in these two nitrogenous manures has 

 doubtless contributed to the result in improving the cundition of 

 the soil, so as to enable it to withstand better the effect of 

 drought. Rape-dust has also supplied nitrogenous food to the 

 crop, though not in so marked a manner, for it is not so easily 

 dissolved or rotted in the soil. 



As regards the potash manures, plots 19 and 20, there is little 

 to record. Both plots have done well, but it does not seem as if 



