I30 



NA TURE 



\7tmc 14, 1877 



Bedford very kindly offered to afford facilities for making 

 new experiments at his own cost. 



Mr. Lawes and Dr. Voelcker were requested to draw 

 up a scheme for carrying on, at Woburn, such experiments 

 as they, in communication with the Chemical Committee, 

 might determine on. His grace offered to give up for the 

 purpose Crawley Mill Farm, comprising about ninety 

 acres, with the house and buildings. But, on examination, 

 it was found that there was no sufficient area on that farm 

 so even in character, and in condition, of soil, as to render 

 it available for a considerable series of comparative field 

 experiments. Eventually, after inspection of many others, 

 a large field of much more suitable land was selected, on 

 Birchmoor Farm. Crawley Mill Farm is, however, also 

 retained, as a means of providing a residence for the 

 Superintendent of the experiments, the requisite buildings, 

 and the opportunity of having at command the necessary 

 horse and hand labour for the experiments. Mr. P. H. 

 Cathcart, formerly at the Royal Agricultural College, 

 Cirencester, has been appointed the Resident Superin- 

 tendent of the experiments. 



As experiments to determine the value of the manure 

 obtained by the consumption of purchased foods ob- 

 viously involved the necessity of feeding animals under 

 conditions in which the manure could be collected with 

 as little loss as possible, the Duke of Bedford has 

 erected eight very complete feeding boxes, in which 

 the manure for the experimental barley and root crops 

 recently sown has been made. 



The field devoted to the field experiments has an area 

 of twenty-seven acres ; the soil has been carefully tested 

 all over, and an account taken of the history of the field 

 since 1S74. 



It was considered important, especially with reference 

 to valuations under the Agricultural Holdings' Act, to 

 add, if possible, to our knowledge of the manure-value of 

 both artificial manures and consumed feeding stuffs ; and 

 it was decided, therefore, both to compare the effects of 

 the manure obtained by the consumption of selected pur- 

 chased foods, with those obtained by artificial manures 

 estimated to supply the same constituents, and also to 

 determine the effects of dung and artificial manuring sub- 

 stances, applied year after year, on the Woburn soil, and 

 to compare these with the results obtained for so many 

 years, with the same manures, on the very different soil at 

 Rothamstcd. Accordingly, 2^ of the six acres where wheat 

 had been grown in 1876, after tares and turnips, each fed 

 with cake, are devoted to the continuous growth of wheat, 

 and 2 j acres to the continuous growth of barley. In each 

 case the area is divided into eleven plots, of a quarter of 

 an acre each. 



The description and quantities of the manures for these 

 experiments have been so carefully selected that in the end 

 valuable results must be obtained as to the comparative 

 value of various kinds of artificial manure as compared with 

 farmyard manure, the constituents of which are accurately 

 known. Two of the plots are unmanured ; seven are 

 manured with artificial manure of more or less compli- 

 cated composition, and two with farmyard manure esti- 

 mated to contain different proportions of nitrogen. In 

 connection with the farmyard manure an accurate record 

 is kept of the kinds and quantities of food from which it 

 is produced, as also of the increase in the live-weight of 

 the stock thus fed. 



Besides these continuous experiments a series of rota- 

 tion experiments — seeds, wheat, roots, barley, in succes- 

 sive years from 1S77 to 1881 — are to be carried out. The 

 stock which is to supply the farmyard manure for these 

 experiments is to be fed with decorticated cotton-cake, 

 which among purchased feeding stuffs has a very high 

 manure value, and maize-meal, which has a very low ma- 

 nure value. The eftects of the manures obtained by the 

 consumption of these foods will be compared with those 

 of artificial manures supplying, in one case the same 



amount of nitrogen, potass, phosphoric acid, &c., as is 

 estimated to be contained in the manure from the cotton- 

 cake consumed, and in another the same as in that from the 

 maize-meal consumed. Accordingly, (our feeding experi- 

 ments have been conducted, in each of which the same 

 amount of litter has been used, and the same amount of 

 roots, and the same amount of wheat-strawchaff consumed. 

 In Experiment i, 1,000 lbs. decorticated cotton-cake were 

 given in addition ; and in Experiment 2, 1,000 lbs. maize- 

 meal. In Experiments 3 and 4 no purchased food was 

 given ; but in Experiment 3 artificial manures estimated 

 to contain the same amount of the chief constituents as 

 the manure from 1,000 lbs. of cotton-cake, and in Experi- 

 ment 4 the same as from 1,000 lbs. maize-meal, will be ap- 

 plied to the land, in addition to the root and chaff manure. 

 Four areas of four acres each have been devoted to these 

 rotation experiments, eight of them coming into exact 

 experiment this year, and the remaining eight in 187S. 

 Each area of four acres is again divided into four plots, 

 each of the latter sub-divisions bearing the same crop 

 during the rotation of four years, but undergoing different 

 treatment in the way of manure. For example, rotation 

 No. I, now vmder seeds, is treated as follows. Each plot 

 is being separately fed by sheep. Plot i with cotton- 

 cake ; Plot 2 with maize-meal ; and Plots 3 and 4 without 

 purchased food. But, for the succeeding wheat, artificial 

 manure estimated to contain nitrogen, and other consti- 

 tuents, in amounts equal to those in the manure from the 

 consumed cotton-cake, will be applied to Plot 3, and 

 artificial manure, equal to that from the consumed maize- 

 meal will be applied to Plot 4. For the roots in 1879 (suc- 

 ceeding the wheat), the 4 acres will be manured as already 

 described, and barley will complete the course in 1880. 

 The other rotations are so treated as at the end of the 

 four years to yield a collection of data that must be of the 

 highest value in agricultural chemistry, and therefore to 

 practical agriculture. In a " Statement" as to the objects 

 and plan of the experiment which lies before us, full 

 details are given on all points, and carefully constructed 

 tables relatmg to every stage of the experiments, which 

 show that all possible care has been taken to secure 

 accuracy and practical utility in the results. The expe- 

 riment will no doubt be anxiously watched by all in- 

 terested in scientific agriculture. 



NOTES 



Prof. Frankland, D.C.L., F.R.S., has now in the press 

 a volume containing his collected researches in Pure, Applied, 

 and Physical Chemistry, dedicated to Prof. Bunsen, of Heidel- 

 berg. The section on Pure Chemistry treats, amongst other 

 matters, of the Isolation of the Organic Radicals, and the Dis- 

 covery of Organo-Metallic Bodies, and their A pplication to the 

 Synthetical Production of Organic Compounds. In the section 

 devoted to Applied Chemistry, the author describes his Investi- 

 gations on the Manufacture of Gas for Illuminating Purposes ; on 

 the Qualities of Potable Waters ; and on the Treatment of the 

 Sewage of Towns. Physical Chemistry includes his Experiments 

 upon Flames, and upon the Source of Muscular Power, to- 

 gether with those on the Spectra of Gases and Vapours. Each 

 chapter is preceded by introductory remarks, having reference 

 to the scope, object, and future development of the subject 

 treated of. Mr. Van Voorst is the publisher. 



A MOVEMENT has been commenced in Spain for the formation 

 of an association similar to the British Association. The Madrid 

 Societies of Natural |Ilistory, Anthropology, and Geography 

 have appointed a joint commission to consider how best to 

 organise an annual meeting in different parts of the kingdom for 

 the purpose of investig.ating matters of scientific interest within 

 the domain of these societies, and also to arrange for the publi- 

 cation of the results that may thus be obtained. A movement 



