252 



TALKS OX MAXURES. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



MANURES FOR OATS. 



" What is the use of talking about manure for oats," said the 

 Deacon, " if land is not rich enough to produce oats without ma- 

 nure, it certainly will not pay to manure them. We can use our 

 manure on some crop that will pay better." 



" That is precisely what we want to know," said I. " Very likely 

 you are right, but have you any evidence ? " 



" Evidence of what ? " 



"Have you any facts that show, for instance, that it will pay 

 better to use manure for wheat or barley than for oats ? " 



" Can't say that I have, but I think manure will pay better on 

 wheat than on oats." 



Mr. Lawes is making a series of experiments on oats. Let us 

 lake a hasty glance at the results of the first two seasons : 



EXPERIMENTS ON OATS AT ROTHAMSTED. 



It seems clear that, for oats, as for barley and wheat, what we 

 most need in manure, is available nitrogen. 



The first year, the no-manure plot produced 36 bushels of oats 

 per acre, weighing 36f Ibs. per bushel, and plot 3, with ammonia- 

 salts alone, 56 bushels, and with nitrate of soda alone, on plot 5, 

 62 bushels per acre, both weighing 38 Ibs. per bushel. In other 

 words, 82 Ibs. of available nitrogen ia the salts of ammonia gave 

 an increase of about 20 bushels per acre, and the same quantity of 

 nitrogen in nitrate of soda an increase of 26 bushels per acre. 



The next year, the season seems to have been a very unfavor- 



