19 



The result is all the more interesting in that this is the only 

 manurial method hitherto tested which has consistently improved 

 the quality of the grain. Other treatments have acted sometimes 

 one way and sometimes the other, the change being usually small 

 and unpredictable. 



When yield is combined with the valuation and allowance is 

 made for tail corn there is found to be a considerable difference 

 in money value per acre in favour of the chloride : — 



Yield (measured bushels per acre) and Money Value of Barley 



per Acre. 



Sulphate of Ammonium. 



Money Value 

 per Acre. 



Ammonium Chloride. 



... ,. Money Value 

 Yield - per Acre. 



Difference in favour of 



Chloride as against 



Sulphate. 



1922 

 1923 

 1924 



36.0 

 32.5 



29.8 



136/- 

 239/- 



238/- 



35.7 

 35.6 



29.7 



156/- 

 265/- 



249/- 



20/- 

 26/- 

 11/- 



In the course of the work it has become clear that the method 

 of valuation commonly adopted does not always work out quite 

 fairly either to the buyer or the farmer. On the loams the estimate 

 has usually been tolerably correct; the value of the malt 

 obtained has paid the cost of the barley, the transport, expenses 

 and profits of malting and other charges. But on the lighter 

 soils, the barley has not generally been as good as it looked, so 

 that the value of the resulting malt did not pay all the charges. 

 On the chalk and limestone soils the barley turned out better 

 than it looked ; the farmer received less than he deserved and the 

 malt gave an additional profit to the maltster. 



These results are quite intelligible. The buyer judges from 

 certain external appearances of the barley which are on the whole 

 correlated with the value of the resulting malt. But the correla- 

 tions between the external characteristics and chemical composi- 

 tion are liable to be affected by changes in environment, and it 

 need occasion no surprise that a correlation holding good on loams 

 may be modified in one direction on a sandy soil, and in another 

 on a chalk soil. 



The malting and brewing part of the investigation lies outside 

 the scope of Rothamsted, and is carried out entirely by the In- 

 stitute of Brewing, but the Station, at the cordial invitation of 

 the Institute, is keeping in close touch with the work. 



BASIC SLAG AND GRASS LAND. 



It is well known that basic slag produces excellent results 

 on many grass fields, especially on the Boulder clays where there 

 is much bent grass and only little wild white clover, but on a 

 number of fields it fails to act. 



Two causes of failure are already known, and methods of 

 dealing with them have been worked out : — 



(1) The land may be too sour, requiring a dressing of 

 lime before the slag can act. 



