No. X.] 



EXPERIMENTS UPON POTATOES AND HAY. 



85 



where tw gypsum was poiodered on Ike sets. At all events, it is worthy of a more 

 extensive trial as a preventative, and it will in all soils, where it is deficient, 

 add to the produce. It has, at the same time, the merit of being a cheap appli- 

 cation. 



There was no great alteration in point of strength or forwardness till the 1st 

 of July, wlien all those patches upon which the guano had been used began to 

 take the lead of those planted with farm-yard manure alone. The guano produced 

 a dark green colour and very strong stems and leaves, so much so, that it was 

 found when too late that they had been too near planted, i. e., 32 inches between 

 the drills, and 12 inches between plant and plant. '?here would have been a 

 far heavier crop if there had been more space, as the strong growing varieties, 

 such as the cups and blues, were nearly choked for want of air. It will be 

 seen from the tables that a mixture of guano and farm-yard manure gave a 

 greater crop than where either of them was used alone. The portion. No. 8, 

 wtis top-dressed with guano when the potatoes were set up for the last time. 

 It was sown broad-cast between the drills, after which the drill harrow was put 

 through them and the plough followed, it acted immediately by altering the 

 colour to a dax-k green, the plants putting out, at the same time, new stems and 

 leaves, but owing to its being applied so late in the season, there was a larger 

 proportion of small potatoes than at the others when lifted. After many trials 

 it has been found that the best and most economical way of using guano for the 

 potato crop is by adding 2 or 3 cv^L per acre to half the usual quantity of farm- 

 yard dtmg, which will be found to give, at least, as good a crop as double the quan- 

 tity of dung alone, whilst it is much cheaper in the first cost, and saves much 

 cartage, which is of tlie greatest moment to the farmer in spring. From its 

 effects upon the oat crop of this season, where it was used as a manure for the 

 turnip crop of 1842, at the rate of 3 cwt. per acre, it seems permanent — as the 

 oats will bear a comparison with those which grew where the land was manured 

 with 40 cubic yards of farm-yard dung, and th6 hay crop, at this time, looks 

 as strong and forward as any in the same field. Potatoes manured with guano, 

 or dressed with sulphate and nitrate of soda, appear also to be ijnproved in /lealth, 

 and the tubers so grown are less apt to fail when cut and planted the following 

 season. 



Experiment II. — 0?i Hay. 



Effect of top-dressings of various substances upon three years old Grass, 

 mostly Timothy, cut for hay in 1843 ; top-dressed on the 3d of June ; cut on 

 the 5th of August ; weighed when cut, and again weighed when stacked on the 

 28th ot August. GLuantity of ground under each dressing — One-eighth of an 

 imperial acre. 



