Field Experijnents on Root- Crops. 



517 



and former pupil, Mr. J. Raillow Hetberlno^ton, of Carleton, near 

 Carlisle ; they were tried on a piece of light land, which had 

 formerly been a beech plantation, and had never grown any crop, 

 except one of potatoes the year preceding the trials. 



In the autumn of 18G4, the roots of the trees were taken out, 

 the land thoroughly drained, and afterwards trenched to a depth 

 of 18 inches, and planted with potatoes in the spring of 18G5. 

 The land was deeply ploughed in the autumn of 1865, then 

 cleaned and prepared for the potatoe experiments. The crop 

 was planted on the 23rd of April. The seed potatoes, "Rough 

 Whites," were obtained from a noted potatoe - grower in the 

 neighbourhood. They were planted 12 inches apart, and 33 

 inches between the drills. Each experimental plot was l-20th 

 •of an acre. The artificial manures employed in the experiments 

 were mixed with twice their weight of finely powdered soil, and 

 the mixture was sown at twice, in order to ensure equal distri- 

 bution. The dung used was of excellent quality, made by fat 

 cattle, and twice turned. 



Table 1. — The Manures used in Potato Experiments at Carleton, 

 Carlisle, in 1866. 



Last season was very unpropitious for potatoes, and Mr. 

 Hetherington informs me that complaints were made all over 

 the neighbourhood that the potatoes never seemed to germinate 

 properly. The frost on the 30th of April and the 1st of May 

 literally closed the ground up, and a subsequent frost, about three 

 weeks later, destroyed every bit of top which had made its 

 appearance. The roots were taken up in particularly dry weather 

 during the first week in October, and no dirt was left on them 

 which could affect the weight. 



The produce of each plot was carefully weighed, and the 

 following results obtained : — 



VOL. III. — S. S. 2 M 



