78 



The harvest months of July, August and September were alike 

 wet, with 3.07, 2.32 and 3.17 inches of rain respectively. 



The untoward weather influences were felt in very marked 

 measure on the continuous wheat and barley plots, the returns 

 for which were lower than for many years past. The highest 

 yield of barley on the continuous plots was only 13 bushels 

 per acre, whereas land close by in the same field gave, under 

 rotation cropping, 27.3 bushels per acre where no nitrogen but 

 only mineral manures had been applied. 



Great difficulties also were experienced with the root crops, 

 through the excessive washing of the soil and the floods that 

 came in the latter part of May. One field was under water for 

 some days, and in another the newly-planted potatoes were, in 

 places, washed out and carried some distance away. The lucerne 

 inoculation experiment was ruined by the flooding, and had to 

 be abandoned. A great deal of the manure put in the land for 

 the root crops must have been washed out ? and so caused a 

 diminution in the returns. 



The one really good crop was hay — alike from rotation 

 grasses, clover and from permanent pasture — and abundant crops 

 were gathered in excellent condition. 



FIELD EXPERIMENTS. 



1. Continuous Growing of Wheat (Stackyard Field), 1923. 

 1923 (i7th Season). 



"Red Standard" wheat, 2\ bushels per acre, was drilled on 

 October 26th, 1922, farmyard manure having been ploughed in 

 on lib on October 19th and 20th, while mineral manures (phos- 

 phates and potash) were applied just previously to the sowing of 

 the wheat, and rape dust (plot 10b) on November 14th. Nitro- 

 genous top-dressings of sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of soda 

 were given on May 15th and June 20th, 1923. 



The wheat was cut on August 13th, stacked August 21st, 

 and threshed November 14th, 1923. 



The yield was exceptionally poor, the unmanured produce 

 averaging 5.6 bushels of corn and 7 cwt. of straw per acre, 

 against 8.5 bushels and 7.25 cwt. in the previous year. One has 

 to go back to 1914 to find so bad a yield on these plots, the 

 return for these two years being, indeed, very similar. Added 

 to the difficulties of season was the fact that the damage done 

 by pheasants to some of the normally weak plots was so great 

 that they had to be resown later with spring wheat. This never 

 came up satisfactorily and, for purposes of comparison and com- 

 ment, the ammonia plots must be left out of account. 



1924 (48th Season). 

 44 Red Standard" wheat, at the rate of 3 bushels per acre, 

 was drilled on October 19th, 1923, plot lib having received its 

 farmyard manure and plot 101) its rape dust on October 16th, 

 and mineral manures having been given to the other plots to 

 receive them, on October 18th. The nitrogenous top-dressings 

 were applied, the first halves on May ath-Oth, 1924, and the second 



