MANUEES FOE BAELET. 227 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

 MANURES FOR BARLEY. 



Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert have published the results of experi- 

 ments with different manures on barley grown annually on the 

 same land for twenty years in succession. The experiments com- 

 menced in 1852. 



The soil is of the same general character as that in the field on 

 the same farm where wheat was grown annually for so many 

 years, and of which we have given such a full account. It is what 

 we should call a calcareous clay loam. On my farm, we have 

 what the men used to call " clay spots." These spots vary in size 

 from two acres down to the tenth of an acre. They rarely pro- 

 duced even a fair crop of corn or potatoes, and the barley was sel- 

 dom worth harvesting. Since I have drained the land and taken 

 special pains to bestow extra care in plowing and working these 

 hard and intractable portions of the fields, the "clay spots" have 

 disappeared, and are now nothing more than good, rather stiff, clay 

 loam, admirably adapted for wheat, barley, and oats, and capable 

 of producing good crops of corn, potatoes, and mangel-wurzels. 



The land on which Mr. Lawes' wheat and barley experiments 

 were made is not dissimilar in general character from these " clay 

 spots." If the land was only half-worked, we should call it clay; 

 but being thoroughly cultivated, it is a good clay loam. Mr. 

 Lawes describes it as " a somewhat heavy loam, with a subsoil of 

 raw, yellowish red clay, but resting in its turn upon chalk, which 

 provides good natural drainage." 



The part of the field devoted to the experiments was divided 

 into 24 plots, about the fifth of an acre each. 



Two plots were left without manure of any kind. 



One plot was manured every year with 14 tons per acre of farm- 

 yard manure, and the other plots "with manures," to quote Dr. 

 Gilbert, " which respectively supplied certain constituents of farm- 

 yard manure, separately or in combination." 



In England, the best barley soils are usually lighter than the 

 best wheat soils. This is probably due to the fact that barley 

 usually follows a crop of turnips more or less of which are eaten 

 off on the land by sheep. The trampling of the sheep compresses 

 the soil, and makes even a light, sandy one firmer in texture. 



In this country, our best wheat land is also our best barley 

 land, provided it is in good heart, and is very thoroughly worked. 



