14 



rapid working, when a large number of analyses have to be made, 

 the Gooch crucible is preferable to a filter paper. 



A. D. Hall and E. J. Russell. "O;/ the Causes of the 

 Higli Nutritive Value ami Fertility of the Fatting Pastures 

 of Ronuiey Marsh and other Marshes in the S.F. of 

 FJnglanci." Journal of Agricultural Science. 1912. 4, 

 339—370. 



A number of })astures of known agricultural \alue were kept 

 under observation during the seasons 1909-1911, and attempts were 

 made to trace out the causes of the high value of some fields and 

 the poor value of others. 



It was found that the feeding value of the pasture grass is 

 determined not only by the floral type (i.e., the botanical composition 

 of the herbage), but also by the habit of growth. 



The floral type is determined by climatic factors, temperature, 

 and the supply of air and of water to the roots, the reaction of the 

 soil and the treatment of the grass, but it is not necessarily afl^ected 

 by variations in the amount of nitrogenous plant food present. 



The habit of growth, on the other hand, is governed by a 

 difl'erent set of factors more diflicult to ascertain. In the cases dealt 

 with in this paper the most important appeared to be the supply of 

 nitrates and ammonia in the soil, i.e., the ease of decomposition of 

 the organic matter ; the supply of phosphate was also an important 

 factor. 



Thus, floral type and habit of growth are independent. Cases 

 are described in this paper where the general soil conditions and 

 floral type persist over two adjoining fields, but the habit of growth 

 and the feeding value of the grass are very difl'erent. 



In attempting to ameliorate a pasture, it is necessary to ascer- 

 tain whether its poverty is due to bad floral type or to habit of 

 growth. Mere casual inspection is insuflicient to determine differ- 

 ences in type because a tendency to flower may make one species 

 appear much more prominent than it really is. Thus the percentage 

 of buttercups was found to be the same in two fields but appeared 

 to be much higher in the field where it produced flowers than in the 

 other where it did not. 



In the cases examined, a leafy habit of growth obtained in the 

 fatting fields, and a stemmy habit in the poorer fields, the floral 

 type being, as already stated, constant. Although the diff"erence in 

 feeding value was known to be great, the differences revealed by the 

 ordinary methods of chemical analysis were very small. The 

 ordinary methods are clearly inadequate for dealing with pasture 

 grasses. 



The soils of the fatting fields possess no constant special 

 features revealed by the ordinary chemical or mechanical analyses. 

 Their striking characteristic was the high rate at which nitrates 

 were produced. They also contained a relatively large amount of 

 total phosphoric acid. Experiments on the spot showed that they 

 had a somewhat better texture than the soils of the non-fatting fields, 

 allowing excess of water more readily to drain away, and retaining 

 moisture better during dry weather, but this property could not be 

 correlated with the mechanical composition of the soil. Soil analysis 



