176 COMPARATIVE ACTION OF THE TWO NITRATES. 



d Mr Haxton, Cupar, Fifeshire 



Grain Straw. Weight per bushel. 



Nothing gave . . 28 bush. 34 cwt. 51f Ib. 

 Nitrate of potash, 80 Ib. 31 ... 33 ... 52f ... 



Common salt, 8 cwt. 34 '... 18 ... 52f ...* 



Two things are deserving of notice in these experiments. 

 First, the greater weight per bushel of the whole of Mr Proud- 

 foot's barley, and the small effect produced either by saltpetre 

 or by common salt on his field. His crop also was largest, and 

 no doubt his land was in better condition than that of the other 

 experimenters. This is in support of what I stated in the pre- 

 ceding section, that the nitrates are more fitted to benefit the 

 poorer than the richer soils. 



Second, that the increase caused by the common salt, in two 

 of the cases, was equal to, or greater than, that caused by the 

 saltpetre. In Mr Haxton's case, the diminution in the straw 

 which accompanied the increase of grain from the application of 

 the common salt is very striking. 



It is unfortunate that the want of duplicate experiments pre- 

 vents us from being certain that the saltpetre really increased 

 any of the crops, except that of Mr Fullerton, who applied it at 

 the rate of about 2 cwt. per acre. The apparent increase in the 

 other cases might have disappeared in duplicate experiments. 



The following experiments exhibit the comparative action of 

 the two nitrates on the barley crop, though not in so satisfactory 

 a way as if they had been applied in their equivalent quantities. 



a Mr Sim, in 1839, applied the following manures to his field 

 at Drummond, in Koss-shire, on the 3d of May, and sowed his 

 barley on the following day : 



Grain. Straw. 



Farm-yard manure, 18 double loads, produced 65 bush. 226| st. 

 Nitrate of soda, 140 Ib. . . . 61 J ... 213... 



Nitrate of potash, 140 Ib. . . . 50 ... 186... 



This experiment appears to indicate a more favourable action 

 upon barley on the part of the nitrate of soda than the nitrate 

 of potash. To produce an equal effect, however, with 140 Ib. 



* Transactions of the Highland Society, January 1849, p. 434. 



