II ELD CROP8. 5 !•"> 



Boil, experiments upon wheat, experiments upon barley, experiments upon oats, 

 experiments upon rool crops grown continuously on the Bame land, experiments upon 

 the continuous growth of leguminous crops, experiments upon grass land mown for 

 bay every year, experiments upon crops grown in rotation, nitrification, and the 

 composition of drainage waters, feeding experiments, and miscellaneous inquiries; 

 and appendixes giving lists of publications issued from the Rothamsted Experimental 

 Station, 1843 1905, publications bj other investigators dealing with material from 

 Rothamsted, and other publications dealing with the Rothamsted experiments, and 

 presenl officials and past and presenl workers at the Rothamsted Experimental 

 Station. 



•■ In this book little has been said of the work nov in progress; speaking generally, 

 the old plats as described are being continued withoul essenl ial change, but the cur- 

 rent investigations 'leal chiefly with t he composition of the crops produced ami with 

 the soil. The bacterial life of the soil forms indeed the unknown territory which 

 promises the -feat est reward t<» the explorations of the agricultural chemisl of to-day." 



The Woburn field experiments, 1903, .1. A. Voed eeb {Jour. Roy. Agr. Soc. 

 England, 65 {1904), pp. 288-806).— The results here reported represenl the twenty- 

 seventh Beason of the experiments. 



The plan of the experiments has been described in former abstracts E. S. R., 16, 

 p. 352 . In alternate years, including this season, some of the plat- received in 

 addition to mineral fertilizer-, ammonia salts, or nitrate of Boda, in quantities furnish- 

 ing the same amount of nitrogen as 100 lhs. of an m ion ia. In the continuous wheat- 

 growing experiments the crop this season was considerably below the average. The 

 unmanured plat produced 9.5 bu. of grain and lo cwt. of straw. Nitrate of soda 

 alone increased the yield to Hi bu., and an equal quantity of nitrogen in the form of 

 ammonia salts where lime had been previously used gave practically the same 

 results. Nitrate of soda and ammonia salts given in moderate amounts with the 

 minerals gave nearly equally good yields. 



He;i\\ applications of nitrogenous -ait- showed injurious effects, hut the highesl 

 yield of the season, 34.1 bu. per acre, was secured where mineral manures and nitrate 

 of soda, in quantities furnishing the same amount of nitrogen as LOO lhs. of ammonia 

 jperacre, were used. The yearly application of rape cake, equal in nitrogen value to 

 100 lh-. of ammonia, gave a larger yield of grain and straw this season than the annual 

 use of barnyard manure furnishing twice the amount of nitrogen. 



Lime applied with ammonia salts, alone or together with minerals, produced a 

 marked bene 1 ieial effect on barley. The unlimed plats, although treated with nitrog- 

 enous fertilizers, either with or without minerals, produced practically no crop. 

 The best yield, 41.6 -bu., was obtained with a heavy dressing of nitrate of soda given 

 together with minerals. With the lighl dressing of nitrate of soda alone only lo.L' 

 hu. per acre were obtained. The barnyard-manure and rape-dust plats gave yields 

 below the average. The barnyard-manure plat produced the best quality of grain. 

 As in previous years, green manuring with mustard and rape gave larger yields than 

 green manuring with tares. 



Three Canadian wheats, Preston, \U-<\ Fife, and Percy, were grown as spring and 

 w inter wheats. Red Fife gave much Letter yields, and the fall-sow n grain was much 

 superior in quality to the Bpring-sown grain. As compared with average English 

 varieties they were superior in quality, but did not rank with them in yield. 



Among varieties of clover from different sources English and Chili red clover 

 ranked first. Seed from Oregon and Indiana also gave good yields. In experiments 

 to improve old pasture it was found that potash increased the .lovers and that harn- 

 yard manure increased the yields bul at the expense of the clovers, favoring to a 



greater extent the more Vigorous grasses. 



Spraying potatoes gave the same favorable results as in former year-, while the 

 use of lime almost entirely prevented finger-and-toe disease in swede-. 



