56 



and could be killed by cultivation. The hot dry autumn was 

 expected to have a very beneficial effect on the soil, and we looked 

 forward with g^reat confidence to good fertility conditions in 1922. 



The effects of this remarkable season on the crops were as 

 follows : — 



1. — Wheat promised to be the crop of the } ear. It looked 

 well throughout the summer and responded to nitrog'^enous dress- 

 ings. On our farm the yields did not come up to expectation, 

 but generally the yield w^as excellent, the axerage for England 

 and Wales being .'35. o bushels as against the 10 years' average of 

 30.7 bushels. 



2. — Oats yielded satisfactorily. 



'S. — Barley came very short in the straw, but the yields were 

 better than seemed likely. An increase of 9 bushels resulted from 

 a top-dressing of 1 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia. 



4. — Swedes failed entirely. 



5. — Potatoes almost failed, giving only 2 or 3 tons per acre ; 

 there was much second growth. 



6. — Mangolds were hampered by the summer drought, but 

 g'rew well after harvest and finally yielded well. 



7. — Clover sown in 1920 did well, the first cut especially being 

 g"ood. Throughout the country the seeds hay had usually yielded 

 pretty well. The seeds sow^n in 1921, however, failed, so that we 

 were constrained to keep some of the 1920 ley down till 1922 — a 

 practice which does not usually answer and was not successful on 

 this occasion. 



8. — The permanent grass, on the other hand, gave poor 

 results. 



Of the fertilisers nitrogen gave its usual increase as shown 

 on p. 85. 



Phosphates (superphosphate, basic slag, but not bone meal on 

 our farm) produced a very visible effect by the middle of June in 

 hastening the ripening processes in barley, the phosphate treated 

 plants being well headed out, while those without phosphate were 

 not; finally phosphates caused a distinct increase in crop (Little 

 Hoos field). 



Basic slag produced no visible effect on the grass land. 



Potassic fertilisers had no visible effect on barley up to June. 



It was remarkable during this season that the barley on the 

 acid plot on Agdell field (No. 2 complete artificials and clover) 

 showed no signs of the failure which had marked the wheat and 

 swede crops. 



OCTOBER, 1921, TO SEPTEMBER, 1922. 



The drought continued throughout October; in many districts 

 the water supply gave serious trouble. It was not till November 

 that the rainfall began and then it was less than the average. 



With the new year, however, conditions became different. 

 January and February were both wet, and April was specially so. 

 In addition the weather was bitterly cold, making everything very 

 backward and causing damage to the winter corn. 



In the gardens the bulbs had made a magnificent show and the 

 fruit trees were full of blossom ; this was probably associated with 

 the complete ripening- of the wood in the autumn of 1921. 



