No. Ill] 



EXPERIMENTS ON WHEAT FIELD. 







Although, therefore, the total increase by the employment of sulphate of soda 

 and muriate of ammonia, in the proportions actually put on, was not so great as 

 by the use of the other two dressings, yet this increase was obtained at a con- 

 siderably less cost per bushel. The lime and potash, though producing an im- 

 portant effect, will probably not yield a remunerating return with this crop on 

 this soU, while the results hold out a fair inducement for the trial of the last two 

 dressings in larger and varied proportions. 



The five samples weighed respectively,— 45 3-5, 513-4, 514-5, 52 3-5, and 

 48 4-5 lbs. per bushel, so that, while on all the dressed plots the grain was 

 heavier than on the undressed, that which was dressed with sulphate of soda 

 was considerably the heaviest. 



3. — Experiments on Wheat field ^ Crook^s {crop, 1841.) 



Character of the Soil. — The land was a heavy loam, and of as nearly as pos- 

 sible the same quality. It had been in potatoes, and the wheat was sown when 

 they wei-e lifted in October, 1840. • 



The applications were all made on the 13th of April, and the crop was reaped 

 on the 2d of September. 



The produce of Jth of a Scotch acre, thrashed and weighed and well cleaned, 

 gave an a/verage of from 32 to 33 bushels of 61 lbs. each per Scotch acre of grain. 



Rkmarks. — This table presents us with two remarkable results, — that ob- 

 tained by the use of common salt, and that from a mixture of soda and rape- 

 dust. Thus, exclusive of the straw, — 



Nitrate of soda alone gave 152 lbs. of wheat for 31s., or 12s. 2d. per bushel; 



Nitrate with rape-dust gave 400 lbs. of wheat for 43s. 6d., or 6s. 9d. per bushel ; 



Common salt gave 472"lbs. of wheat for 3s. 6d., or 6d. per bushel. 



The increased produce, by the use of common salt, is by far the most valua- 

 ble result to Mr. Fleming in an economical point of view, and plainly indicates 

 the kind of application he can most profitably make — to his wheat crops at least — 

 on land similar to the above, and in the district where he resides. 



Neither the nitrate of soda nor the mixture of this salt with rape-dust, gave 

 such an increase as to repay their own cost, unless when corn is very high. It 

 is interesting, however, to observe that the mixture with rape-dust gave so large 

 an increase, though the value of this particular experiment is lessened by the ab- 

 sence of any trial with rape-dust alone, by which the effect of each of the ingre- 

 dients ought to be judged of I have reckoned the rape-dust at £7 a ton, so that 

 5 cwt. would cost 28s., and we know that a top-dressing of this substance alone, 

 in a somewhat larger quantity, gives a remunerating return in many of our wheat 

 lands. 



