EXPEPJMEXTAL STATIONS — BARLEY CROP 1883. 389 



an exceptional one. Not only is the total rainfall very high, but 

 it is distributed in a manner which is the converse of that of 

 normal seasons. Instead of July being the driest month, it was 

 the wettest. It rained more than half the time, and attained 

 the extraordinary record of almost 5 inches. It is needless to 

 say that this had a very marked influence upon the barley 

 crop, and unfavourably affected the whole of the experiments, 

 but especially that part which was designed to exhibit the 

 relative advantage of early and late top-dressing. 



Had the rainfall of July and August been interchanged with 

 that of May and June, the results would have been entirely 

 different. Owing to the drought in May, the braird remained 

 nearly stationary for weeks, and the half-plots which had 

 received nitrate of soda were no better than those from which 

 it had been withheld. It was evident that the manures had not 

 begun to tell upon the crop, and it was determined to delay the 

 application of nitrate to the remaining half-plots until the effect 

 of the first application was visible. This did not occur until 

 the middle of June. After the occurrence of two or three days 

 of wet weather, the greener and more vigorous appearance of the 

 parts where the nitrate had been applied, showed that that 

 manure was having its effect, and the remaining half plots were 

 immediately top-dressed. There was thus seven weeks of an 

 interval between the first and second application of nitrate, 

 instead of three and four weeks, as would have been the case in 

 a normal season. Had the season continued to be a dry one, 

 this interval would probably not have been too great, but the 

 occurrence of extremely wet w^eather in July brought about a 

 state of matters which could not have been anticipated. The 

 crop which had remained for weeks in a dormant state now 

 shot away at a great rate, and the half which had received the 

 late top-dressing rapidly overtook its rival, and in the end 

 surpassed it in length of straw by 6 or 8 inches. During the 

 first week of August the crop looked beautiful, and the difference 

 between the late and early top-dressing could be seen distinctly 

 three miles off'. A few days later there occurred the memorable 

 storm of the Uth August, which made such havoc of the woods 

 and plantations all over the country, and the crops at both 

 stations, in common with most of the corn corps in the 

 neighljourhood, were very much laid. The parts which were 

 late top-dressed sulfered most, for on them the straw was long 

 and slender and thickly grown, and no doubt it was of a weaker 

 constitution than that on tlie other plots. Accordingly large 

 breadths of it were laid Hat or twisted about in a great confusion, 

 and the hopes of obtaining a line crop and much reliable 

 information were rudely dissi[)ated. The storm occurred at an 

 unfortunate time, for the crop was still growing, and the various 



