238 FIELDS, FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS. 



conclusion in agriculture as to the limits of profitable manur- 

 ing was arrived at at Rothamsted. The highest average crop 

 ever attained at Rothamsted on such plots, by any amount of 

 manuring, was thirty-six and a quarter bushels, and the 

 maximum crop obtained in the best season was fifty-six 

 bushels. Now Sir A. Cotton claims that as much as from 

 80 to 100 bushels to the acre can be obtained by means 

 of deep cultivation and planting wide apart in addition to 

 proper manuring, that is, nearly three times as much as the 

 Rothamsted average was for the best-manured plots. The 

 only fair challenge which could be made with reference to 

 such an assertion would be, in my opinion, to propose to grow 

 an average of 80 or 100 bushels (instead of the Rotham- 

 sted thirty-six and a quarter) for several years in succession 

 (bad and good seasons) on plots of the same size as the Rotham- 

 sted plots, i.e., one-third and two-thirds of an acre; under 

 the condition, of course, that full account be kept, as it was 

 at Rothamsted, of the manure used and the labour required. 

 But such a challenge was not made, and it was proposed, 

 instead, to grow 1000 bushels on ten acres } in ten different 

 counties, in the second part of the challenge. To make a 

 challenge under such conditions Sir John Lawes must well 

 know it himself amounts to no challenge at all. Let us 

 hope, however, that some day the experiments of Hallett, 

 Cotton, Grandeau and Dessprez will be repeated u.t Rotham- 

 sted as well, and that Sir John Lawes will give them as 

 brilliant a confirmation as he gave some time ago to Hell- 

 riegel's work on nitrification. 



L. REPLANTED WHEAT. 



A few words on this method which now claims the atten- 

 tion of the experimental stations may perhaps not be useless. 



In Japan, rice is always treated in this way. It is treated 

 as our gardeners treat lettuce and cabbage; that is, it is let 

 first to germinate ; then it is sown in special warm corners, 

 well inundated with water and protected from the birds by 

 strings drawn over the ground. Thirty- five to fifty-five days 



