434 Field-Experiments on Permanent Pasture. 



Experiments on Permanent Pasture by Mr. G. Y. 

 Wall, Durham, at "The Lizards," near Sedgfield, 

 Ferry Hill, County of Durham. 



At my sug'gestion, Mr. Wall tried the same manures which 

 were used in the preceding- experiments upon permanent pasture 

 ot a rather poor and cold character. 



The soil of the experimental field was a clay loam, moderately 

 strong, four to five feet deep, and overlying a strata of sand ; the 

 geological formation of the disti'ict being the carboniferous series 

 of rocks. 



The herbage of the pasture was coarse, and consisted princi- 

 pally of the following grasses and plants : — Phleum pratcnse 

 (^Timothy grass), Dactylis cjlomerata (Cocksfoot grass), Lolivrn 

 perenne (YLye-grsiSs), C//Jiosurus cristatus (Crested Dogstail grass). 

 Briza media (Quaking grass), Holcus lanatus (Woolly soft grass), 

 Avena Jlavescens (Yellowish Oat-grass), Af/i'ostis stolonifera 

 (Creeping Bent-grass), Trifoliumj^ratense {KeAc\o\ex), Trifoliuni 

 repens (White clover), Plantago lanceolata (Rib-grass), Planlof/o 

 major (Greater Plantain), Poterium sanguisorha (Burnet), Lotus 

 ■corniculatus (Common birdsfoot trefoil), and Ranunculus bulbosus 

 {Buttercup), 



An acre of the pasture land was divided into 10 plots. The 

 manures were spread on the 15th of March, 1869, and on the 

 following day the experimental plots were well chain-harrowed 

 and rolled with a Cambridge roller. 



Showery weather setting in soon after the application of 

 the manures, they were well washed into the soil. 



The lime used in the experiment was obtained from the 

 Raceby kilns, and weighed 92 lbs. per bushel unslaked. 



The necessarily cold and stormy spring kept the grass in a 

 very backward state, and the following hot summer completelv 

 burnt up the aftermath. 



The plots, Mr, Wall informed me, presented the following- 

 appearance on the 4th of May. 



Nos. 1 and 2 (quicklime and quicklime and salt). No ma- 

 terial difference ; the herbage rather finer than the rest of the 

 plots. 



No. 3. Fine bone-dust. Very short ; herbage fine, full of 

 clover and ti'efoil. 



No. 4. Superphosphate and potash salts. Short, good colour ; 

 a good deal of clover and trefoil. 



No. 5. No manure. Very bare. 



No. G. Common salt. Brown and bare. 



No. 7. Peruvian guano. Dark green, short : apparently second 

 best plot. 



