318 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



acre, and the net gain per annum from $3.30 to $2.06 an acre. In 

 the four years that sulphate of ammonia was applied the live 

 weight increase was greater by 7 pounds per acre per annum, but 

 in the five years this manure was not used the average decrease 

 was 13M pounds (= $2.42 per acre per annum). Here we have a 

 clear demonstration of bad after-effects of this manure on pasture, 

 and a striking evidence against this manure having any residual 

 value after the first year it is applied to pasture, showing on the 

 contrary that compensation is needed for its bad after-effects. This 

 manure has on the average slightly repressed the clover. 



"Plot 2 had 4 tons lime per acre for 1897, and another 4 tons for 

 1903. The increase in live weight of the sheep has been only 12^ 

 pounds per acre annually, and when the cost of the lime is de- 

 ducted, the net loss has been $1.74 per acre per annum. On this 

 poor exhausted soil (especially poor in available phosphates) there 

 has not been sufficient plant food on which the lime could exert 

 its beneficial action. Nor has the lime sweetened the coarse natural 

 herbage to any extent, as sedges and mosses are still nearly as 

 abundant here as on the untreated plot, while clover development 

 has been very slight. Plot 8 has had the same superphosphate as 

 Plot 4, and in addition 10 cwt. ground lime in each of the years 

 1897, 1899 and 1903. This addition of lime has increased the live 

 weight of the sheep per acre per annum by 22% pounds, and the 

 average annual net gain from $3.30 to $4.08 per acre. The live 

 weight increases due to the addition of lime have been about 

 the same for the first, second and third years after each appli- 

 cation. The average annual increase in live weight from this plot 

 is practically the same (about 79 pounds) as that from 10 cwt. slag 

 all applied in 1897 (Plot 3), these being the two plots that have 

 given considerably the highest increases. The greater cost of the 

 superphosphate and lime than of the slag accounts for the consid- 

 erably less net gain from the former. The results on Plots 3 and 

 8 show that a combination of superphosphate and lime has given 

 very similar results to slag, and indicate that the lime present in 

 slag is a valuable ingredient. Lime and superphosphate have de- 

 veloped clovers on this plot to practically the same extent as slag 

 on Plot 4, and considerably more than superphosphate has done on 

 Plot. 5. 



"On Plot 1 about 600 pounds per acre of decorticated cotton cake 

 have been fed to the sheep in the two years 1897-8, while 600 pounds 



