Two Years' Work in the Cheinical Branch. 179 



Taking- the increased yield on plot 6, a fact of great significance 

 becomes at once apparent. The leaving out of phosphoric acid in this 

 plot has resulted in a loss of 1,571 lbs. A feature then common to 

 the supposedly fertile soils of this district is, as with the Northern, a 

 marked deficiency in phosphoric acid, but the similarity ends here, 

 for in the Northern soils an application of a manure containing phos- 

 phoric acid only, gave practically the possible limits to an increase in 

 the wheat yield, while in the soils under review nitrogen, and, to a 

 less degree, potash seemed also necessary. On such soils, genei'ully 

 speaking, an application of 



14 to 2 cwt. ordinary superphosphate, 

 1 cwt. nitrate of soda, 

 ^ cwt. potash chloride, 



ought to result in an increase of from 1 ton to 8U cwt. of hay per acre 

 the first year. What the after profits might be the second year I will 

 call attention to later on. Of course, I know there are farmers in this 

 district who will maintain that such a complicated, and such a heavy 

 dressing of manure is by no means necessary, and that yields almost 

 as great can be secured by an application of phosphoric acid only, in 

 the form either of superphosphate or Thomas' phos])hate. If actual 

 weights were taken it would be found, judging by our experi- 

 ments, that the estimated increased yield due to a superphosphate or 

 Thomas' phosphate alone was in excess of what was really obtained ; 

 for, in our ex})eriments, we find where superphosjjhate only has been 

 used that the yield is only half of what it is with the complete 

 manure, and thei'e is every reason to think that, by a system of con- 

 tinuous hay gi-owing with a superphosphate only the ground would 

 soon become exhausted in the other ingredients. The object of 

 manuring is not only to obtain large increases for a few years, but 

 also to maintain the fertility of the land, and there are strong reasons 

 for thinking that in the Central district we must use a complete 

 manure to do this, always giving our manure containing phosphoric 

 acid the first consideration. Of course, by rotating our crops, 

 instead of growing hay continuously, and including a pea crop in our 

 rotary courses, the necessity of nitrogen manuring would, possibly, be 

 done away with, and all we should then have to give would be a 

 superphosphate with a little })otash chloride. 



All that we have said of the soil requirements of the Central 

 districts seems to apply just as well to the more Southern portions of the 

 State. On referring to the same tables (Southern districts) it will be 

 found that the system of manuring in the fields has been just the same 

 as in the Central districts. On the first three plots a complete 

 manure has been used ; and the increased yields from these plots 

 can be com])ared with the increased yields on plots where one of the 

 three ingredients forming the complete manure has been left out. 

 The results in the first part of the tables are also those of hay crops. 

 A complete manure, taking the average of nine fields and the figures 

 of the plot with the medium dressing, has resulted in an increase of 

 1,881 lbs. On the plot with the heavy dressing the increase has 



