Oil the Growth of Barley by different Manures, <^c. 525 



From the extent to whicli our paper has already reached, as 

 well as from the incompleteness of our Tables at the moment 

 we are obliged to conclude for the press, we must forego the 

 adequate consideration of the mass of important data they will 

 provide, and content ourselves with giving some direction to the 

 more careful study of the reader. 



A few words should first be said, on the influence of season 

 and manuring, upon the yercentaye of nitrogen in the produce of 

 barley. And whilst on this point, we may refer the reader to a 

 rather fuller, though still only summary, treatment of the effects 

 of these agencies on the nitrogenous percentage of xoheat, given 

 in the ' Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society,' vol. x., part i., 

 April 1857. In the main, their direction and tendency are very 

 similar with the two crops, though differing incidentally on 

 certain points. 



Referring to the influence of varying season., we find both the 

 grain and straw, when grown without nitrogenous manure, to 

 show a tendency to relatively low percentage of nitrogen, the 

 higher the characters of the produce as indicated by general coin- 

 cidence of high proportion and weight per bushel of corn, with 

 comparatively full amount of crop per acre. It will be remem- 

 bered that 1854, 1855, and 1857, were the best corn-yielding 

 years, whilst 1856 was the worst. Accordingly, 1854 and 1855 

 show the lowest percentage of nitrogen in the corn, and also in 

 the straw ; 1856, on the other hand, gives the highest percentage 

 in the corn, and about the highest in straw. On the average ot 

 the iew seasons before us then, so far as the crops grown without 

 nitrogenous manure are concerned — that is, those which ripened 

 best — the tendency was to give the lower percentage of nitrogen, 

 the higher the character of the crop, and vice versa. The same 

 was the case with Avheat. But as with it, so with barley, the 

 rule is not without exception, but would seem only to apply on 

 the average, as our seasons go. The most striking exception in 

 the Table before us is 1857 ; when, with an unusually favourable 

 season for yield and maturation of corn, we had, compared with 

 the other good years, a somewhat high percentage of nitrogen in 

 both corn and straw. 



Turning to the produce grown by nitrogenous manures, and 

 again comparing season with season, the rule just indicated does 

 not seem to be so clearly borne out. When, however, it is con- 

 sidered that the influence of the nitrogenous manures, even when 

 used in the smaller of our adopted quantities, was to produce 

 over-luxuriance, and to depreciate the proportion and quality of 

 the grain — that is, to be unfavourable to the most perfect matura- 

 tion — it will be seen, that an apparent exception under these 

 circumstances, is rather a confirmation of the assumption that 



