35 



TABLE V. MANURED KOTATION, WOBUEN. MEAN PRODUCE PER ACRE, 



1885-96. 



Before considering the excess of produce obtained from 

 the higher manuring, we must first inquire what was the 

 excess of manure in each case. The cotton-cake consumed by 

 the sheep contained 21-22 Ibs. more nitrogen than the maize- 

 meal eaten on the comparative plot ; this quantity of nitrogen 

 purchased as decorticated cotton-cake would cost about 15s. 

 at wholesale prices. The manure left in the land after the 

 consumption of the cake by sheep has produced a crop of 

 barley 3 bushels greater than that yielded by the correspond- 

 ing manure from maize. We have thus a gross return of 9s, as 

 the residual effect of the 15s. worth of cake consumed by sheep 

 immediately before the sowing of the barley. The manure 

 was apparently without effect on the succeeding clover and 

 wheat crops ; the clover is a little less on the cotton-cake plot 

 and the wheat a little more, and the money value of these 

 differences compensate each other. The gross return is thus 

 60 per cent, on the cost of the cotton-cake, a result almost 

 identical with that obtained at Eothamsted. 



The heavier dressing of nitrate of soda applied to the 

 barley would contain about 20 Ibs. more nitrogen than the 

 lighter dressing ; these 20 Ibs. of nitrogen purchased as 

 nitrate would cost nearly 9s. The increase in the crop of 

 barley by the use of this nitrate of soda is 6 bushels, repre- 

 senting a gross return of 18s. The advantage resulting from 

 the manure is probably confined to the barley crop ; the 

 differences shown by the clover and wheat are very slight. 

 The nitrate of soda was thus far more profitable than the cake 

 manure. To obtain the whole return from the cake we must, 



