Early Experiments on Wheat at Bodmersham. 13 



Accordingly, a field of 3J acres at Rodmersham, about 

 three and a half miles from Sittingboume, was divided into 

 seven plots of half an acre each, and the experiments were 

 placed in charge of Mr. George Eley, of Tong, the secretary of 

 the club. The soil of the experimental plots is described as a 

 mixed clay, upon a chalk subsoil lying from 4ft. to 6ft. below 

 the surface. The previous cropping had been as follows : 

 In 1853, turnips, dressed with 2cwt. guano and 3cwt. super- 

 phosphate of lime per acre, and the whole of the crop fed on 

 the land ; in 1854, barley, and a good dressing of London 

 dung for beans in 1855, this being the usual preparation for 

 wheat in that locality. The land was, therefore, in a well- 

 cultivated and fertile state, and, as the results showed, 

 in higher condition than was desirable when the object was 

 to determine the character of the exhaustion, and therefore 

 the character of the manures required for the crop in that 

 particular soil, under the ordinary system of cropping and 

 management adopted. The action of the different manures 

 was, nevertheless, sufficiently characteristic after the first 

 crop of wheat had been taken. 



The manures were obtained from the bulks used in the 

 Rothamsted experiments. The arrangement and quantities 

 per acre were as follows : 



Plot 1. Unmanured. 



Plot 2. Mixed mineral manure, viz., 3001b. sulphate of 

 potash, 2001b. sulphate of soda, lOOlb. sulphate of magnesia. 

 3501b. superphosphate of lime (consisting of 2001b. bone 

 ash and 1501b. sulphuric acid of sp. gr. 1*7). 



Plot 3. Ammonia- salts, comprising 2001b. sulphate of 

 ammonia and 2001b. muriate (chloride) of ammonia. 



Plot 4. Ammonia- salts (as Plot 3) and mixed mineral 

 manure (as Plot 2). 



Plot 5. 5401b. Peruvian guano. 



Plot 6. 20001b. rape cake. 



Plot 7. 14 tons farmyard manure. 



The dressings were applied annually for the first three 



