S. H. Collins ato B. Thomas 283 



Sulphate of ammonia is better than organic nitrogen for sugar pro- 

 duction but only to a small extent. 



II. Effect of Districts. 



It was quite impossible to do more than select a few farms to re- 

 present large areas. The conclusions arrived at can by no means be 

 supposed to refer to the whole of the district alluded to. In some cases 

 personal knowledge permitted the farms to be well scattered, so that 

 County Durham is fairly well represented, but the district called Scotland 

 is merely an average of a few results from Aberdeen and Edinburgh and 

 is therefore merely a name for places well to the north of Northumberland. 

 Similarly Yorkshire is represented almost entirely by Garforth, only a 

 few other places in the county being among the hst of farms from which 

 samples were obtained. The .•southern counties district is more wide- 

 spread, as it includes Essex, Herts, Bucks, Hants, Wilts, Derby and 

 Notts, and may fairly represent "the South" from a north country- 

 man's point of view. 



In spite of these drawbacks in the classification, a useful comparison 

 may be made with the following results. 



Albuminoids in Oat Straw in Different Districts. 



Moving from North to South : 



Scotland with 2U samples gives 3-23 % ± -10. 



Northumberland and Durham with 26 samples gives .■M.5 % ± -14. 



Cumberland and Westmorland with 15 samples gives 4-42 % ± -1.5. 



Yorkshire with 27 samples gives 3-09 % ± -08. 



Southern Counties with 34 samples gives 2-74 % ± -09 . 



The outstanding result is the much higher amount of albuminoids in 

 Cumberland and Westmorland. Oats are there a very important crop 

 as they receive nmch more maniire than is customary in other parts. 

 They frequently follow old leas and often receive much direct apphcation 

 of dung. Stock are moreover the central feature of the system of farming 

 and much care is taken of the beasts. Owing to the damper chmate 

 it is possible that the roots of the oats go on absorbing nitrogen to a 

 late stage and hence keep on accumulating nitrogen; but the average 

 figures for non-albuminoid nitrogen are not especially high, so that some 

 other explanation must be looked for. The superiority of the oat straw 

 on the farms tested in Cumberland and Westmorland can hardly be 

 attributed to any other cause than an increased amount of available 

 nitrogen in the soil. 



