42 



manures, a marked difference was shown between barley 

 and wheat. In the case of wheat, it will be remembered 

 that, while mineral manures and the residue from the 

 application of nitrate of soda to the previous crop gave 

 only 2 bushels increase over the mineral manures alone, 

 the residue from ammonia salts gave about 8f bushels 

 increase. (See Table XII.) In the case of barley, the 

 residues of the two nitrogenous manures gave practically 

 identical results, as will be seen in the following table, 

 giving the average produce per acre per annum from the 

 manures mentioned for the first fifteen years of experiment. 

 The yield from mineral manures only was 22*6 bushels for 

 the same period. 



TABLE XX. 



Ammonia Nitrate of 

 Salts. Soda. 



Minerals and nitrogenous manures 44-9 . . 50' 1 



Minerals and residue of previous year's nitro- 

 genous manures 31-0 . . 31-1 



It should be observed that, in these experiments, the 

 residue from ammonia salts was as effective on barley as 

 on wheat ; but the residue from the previous application 

 of nitrate of soda was more effective on barley than on wheat. 



On farms worked in the ordinary way, sulphate of am- 

 monia gives precisely similar returns compared to nitrate of 

 soda as in the continuous experiments mentioned. For 

 example, in an experiment carried out in 1887 by the 

 Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture at Whitlingham, f cwt. of 

 sulphate of ammonia with minerals gave exactly the same 

 return of corn as i cwt. of nitrate with minerals, and rather 

 more straw ; double the quantity of nitrate gave much 

 better results ; while doubling the sulphate yielded no addi- 

 tional crop. It must be remembered, however, that 1887 

 was a remarkably dry year, and would therefore favour the 

 action of nitrate of soda, and would also preserve the crop from 

 any likelihood of suffering from the larger dose of nitrate. 



EFFECT OF SULPHATE ON QUALITY. 



So far the yield per acre only has been considered ; but 

 the quality of the grain for malting purposes is more im- 

 portant from an economical point of view than the mere 

 quantity. The quality of barley is, however, a thing upon 

 which it is difficult to obtain accurate statistics, and one 

 which can hardly be expressed by figures. Unlike wheat, 

 the weight per bushel of which is an approximate index of 

 quality, the weight per bushel of barley is a secondary 

 matter. Of course, other things being equal, a high weight 

 per bushel is desirable ; and in this respect sulphate of 

 ammonia and nitrate of soda have the same relative effect on 

 barley as on wheat sulphate giving grain of greater weight 

 than nitrate. In both the Rothamsted and the Woburn 

 experiments this is shown ; the average weight per bushel 

 being about | Ib. greater with sulphate than with nitrate. 



