16 RESULTS OP EXPERIMENTS ON PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. [Appendix. 



eral result may have been partly due to the state of ripeness in which all the 

 grasses were cut, while the greater produce of hay from the dressed portions 

 may indicate the relative ripeness, and therefore dryness, of each when cut down. 

 U is evident, therefore, that the relative values of crops of grass or clover are 

 not to be judged of by the several weights when green, but by the weights of 

 the diy hay. This is further confirmed by the results of an experiment with 

 nitrate of soda, communicated to me by Mr. Carrutiiers, of Warmonbie, near 

 Annan, in which the relative weights of hay obtained were vitich niore in favour 

 of the use of the nitrate than the several weights of grass yielded by the dressed 

 and undressed portions of the field. On the contrary, from a field on Oliver 

 Farm, near Richmond, Mr. Sivers informs me, that the weight of hay wasvmc/i 

 less in favour* of the use of tlie nitrate of soda than the relative weights of 

 grass. In all cases, therefore, the weight of the dry crops obtained by different 

 methods should be compared with each other, as the safest test of the relative 

 merits of the several modes of procedure by which they have respectively been 

 raised. 



II. Experiments made at Erskine, on the property of Lord Blantyre. 

 I insert the clear and well-digested statement of his Lordship's agent without 

 alteration: — 



" Freelomd, Erskine, by Old Kilpatrick, Glasgoiv, 29/A July, 1841. 

 " Sir — Agreeably to Lord Blantyre's instructions I send you a copy of the re- 

 sults of some experiments with manures on young grass for hay, undertaken 

 on two separate pieces of land — the one a very good light soil (subsoil gravel) ; 

 the other stiff clay soil with a clay subsoil. The manures were applied on 1st 

 May, the hay cut on the 1st and weighed on the 19th July current; the extent 

 of each plot one-twentieth of an imperial acre. From the small extent of each plot 

 it will be evident that the results cannot be exactly depended on, farther than as 

 a general result ; because in so small a portion of land the least variation in the 

 soil or crop naturally will affect the results very materially ; still, on the whole, 

 I am of opinion that the experiment gives the compai'ative view of the value of 

 the different manures used pretty nearly. 



" One thing has astonished us with regard to soda (nitrate). On all the fields 

 I have observed it sown on, the part dressed has a much greater vigour of after- 

 math than where no nitrate of soda was given : showing that this manure is not 

 so evanescent as was generally supposed. 



" I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, 



" Jas. Wilson." 

 Experiments with Manures as « top-dressing for Hay, at Erskine, 1841, 

 Remarks, — It will be observed in these experiments, that the saltpetre and 

 nitrate of soda produced nearly an equal increase on both kinds of soil, the ni- 

 trate of soda having the greater effect on the light, the nitrate of potash on the 

 heavy soil. Next to these on the light soil are the common salt and sulphate of 

 soda, though on the heavy soil the common salt had the better effect of the two. 

 It is to be observed, however, that in this case the sulphate was used in crystals, 

 and therefore only in half the quantity recommended. Had twice the quantity 

 been employed upon the light soil the produce might have equalled that from the 

 nitrates. 



It is a singular illustration, however, of the necessity of applying different 

 substances to different soils — that so far as this experiment is to be depended 

 upon, the sulphate of soda almost entirely failed on the heavy land. 



The most valuable practical deduction from these experiments also, is, that 

 on both the soils in question, the grass land, in its present condition, may be salted 

 to advantage. At the same time, it appears probable that on the light soil the 

 increased produce would amply repay the cost of applying either nitrate or sul- 



" In Mr. Sivers' experiments, 100 square yards, nitrated, gave 68 stones of hay, unnitrated 

 62 stones, but when dry they were reduced to 12 stones each. How very much more suc- 

 culent these grasses were than those of Mr. Turner ! 



