172 Agricidtnral Education Exhibition, Shrewsbvri/. 1914. 



in these soils were particularly full of interest. To the practical 

 man the lesson came home that it was not necessary to apply 

 any great excess of chalk over that required to bring the soil 

 up to a neutral point, and he saw in the use of this method the 

 possibility of considerable saving on his lime account. 



Turves from old grass land, showing the influence that 

 harrowing well and often exerts on the development of the 

 grasses, to the exclusion and depletion of moss and old matted 

 grass that was preventing the supply of air and light to the 

 roots of the small plants, resulted in a good sound turf and a 

 strong young clover plant, and was the object of much interest 

 to visitors. Other exhibits were : Specimens of soil taken from 

 a field infested Avithwild onion {Allium vineale),shovfiiig how 

 it was possible to clear the land of this terrible pest by a simple 

 and reinunerative process ; the effects of different artificial 

 manures on grass land ; as well as the influence on the barley 

 plant of magnesium oxide (full accounts of this work can be 

 found in the Society's Journal). 



University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. — There were 

 some interesting exhibits bearing on the agriculture of Wales 

 in this ba3\ Relief maps showing the results that have been 

 obtained in the investigations that have been carried out on the 

 hills and pastures of the district, together with an interesting 

 set of turves illustrating the effects of different treatments of 

 pastures, were a source of great interest to a large number of 

 visitors. The evidence of correlation between herbage and strata 

 was striking, and the facilities here perceived for studying the 

 flora on the different geological foundations typified the 

 valuable knowledge that may be obtained with the minimum 

 amount of trouble by a visit to the educational exhibition. 

 There are not many people out of the immediate district who 

 are aware of the large amount of land tbat is put out of 

 cultivation by the workings of the Welsh lead mines. An 

 interesting map, showing the location of a hundred lead mines 

 and the area of affected land about them, was the subject of 

 great interest, and it would be of value to knotv how far these 

 effects are directly attributable to the metal, and how far to the 

 particular form of combination in which the metal exists. The 

 Wolmrn Pot-culture Station has shown that quite considerable 

 amounts of lead, as sulphate or carbonate, can be present in the 

 soil without exerting a toxic influence on the wheat plant, and 

 should the ore the mines obtain be the sulphide of lead, the 

 damage to vegetable life is probably due to the sulphur. 



Rothamsted Experimental Station. — A good deal of work is 

 being done at Rothamsted to find out the mechanism of the 

 loss of nitrogen from soils and farmyard manure. Small 



