74 RESULTS WITH OATS 



forty years, which we have already seen, we are hardly 

 justified in doing. At Woburn the return is 10^ bushels for 

 i cwt. of sulphate of ammonia, on an average of sixteen years. 

 In the fewer Cirencester experiments the return is 7^ bushels 

 for the same dressing of ammonia. In Mr. Cooke's eight 

 series of Norfolk experiments, extending over three years, he 

 found a return of rather less than 7 bushels of barley from i 

 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia on light soils, for which rape 

 cake is the favourite manure with the farmers. We may pro- 

 bably therefore assume that with moderate applications of 

 ammonia salts, and a proper use of superphosphate and kainite 

 when required, an average of from 7 to 10 bushels of barley 

 may be expected from i cwt. of sulphate of ammonia, accord- 

 ing to the quality of the soil receiving the manure. 



OATS 



i. Experiments at Rothamsted. The continuous 

 cultivation of oats with various manures, on the same plan 

 already described under the head of Wheat and Barley, has 

 been carried out at Rothamsted from 1869 to 1878. The 

 experiments were finally given up from the difficulty experi- 

 enced in keeping the land clean, and in obtaining a sufficiently 

 good tilth in spring, the soil of the field (Geescroft) containing 

 a considerable proportion of clay. The results are not therefore 

 as satisfactory as those obtained with wheat or barley. 



Tartar Oats were grown. The manures were of the same 

 kind and quantity as those already mentioned as employed in 

 the wheat experiments. The ammonia salts, and the other 

 manures, were applied to the land before sowing the seed, and 

 were ploughed or harrowed in. 



In the first five years of the experiment 400 Ibs. of ammonia 

 salts (mixed sulphate and chloride) were applied per acre. 

 The quantity was then reduced to 200 Ibs., and four crops taken 

 with this manuring. In the second series of experiments one 

 year of bare fallow occurred. We give the results of the two 

 series of experiments separately. 



