Continuous Growth of Wheat for Forty Tears. 19 



bushels, and the highest in the first year 24 J, and in the last 

 56| bushels, cannot fail to be of much interest at once to the 

 farmer, to the economist, and to the man of science. Much 

 more, then, is this true of records which now extend over a 

 period twice as long. The experiments have been made on 

 what may be called fair average wheat land. The rent of 

 similar land in the locality ranged from 25s. to 30s. per acre,, 

 tithe free, and its wheat crop under the usual management of 

 the district, did not average more than 25 to 27 bushels per 

 acre every fifth year, so that the land could lay no claim to 

 extraordinary fertility, or to be ranked on a higher level than 

 a large proportion of the soils on which wheat is grown with 

 a moderate degree of success, under a system of rotation and 

 home manuring. The soil is a somewhat heavy loam, with a 

 subsoil of raw yellowish red clay, but resting in its turn upon 

 chalk, which provides good natural drainage. 



PLAN OF THE EXPERIMENTS. 



The reports include accounts of the amount and character 

 of the produce obtained in every one of the forty seasons 

 from 1843 to 1883, a general description of the weather in 

 each season being accompanied by a table showing the 

 manures applied and a summary of the results obtained. 

 The appendix tables show the effects of one manure compared 

 with those of another in each season separately, and the great 

 difference of effect of the same manure in one season compared 

 with another, and its increasing or diminishing effect when 

 used year after year on the same plot. But as it is essential 

 to know not only the quantity, but likewise the chemical 

 composition of the produce, determinations have each year 

 been made of the proportions of dry substance and of mineral 

 matter in both the grain and the straw of each plot. The 

 proportion and quantity per acre of the nitrogen, and the 

 composition of the ash, in both grain and straw, have in many 



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