Nov. 



1883] 



NATURE 



Si 



which have been made, the true place of existence of 

 which is the ice and the snow, must particularly be of 

 great value. They are besides of additional interest to 

 the expedition, as they belong to a new branch of science 

 which has in the first instance been created by Swedish 

 savants. The collections, perhaps, of most value to 

 science have, however, been made by Dr. Nathorst from 

 the North-West Greenland so-called basalt formation, 

 which is remarkable for the quantity of fos^il plants con- 

 tained in the clay, sand, and tuff strata there. Of course 

 some very fine palaaontological collections have been 

 brought from these parts before, especially by the Swedish 

 expedition of 1870, and by some Danish ones under Dr. 

 K. Steenstrup ; but it is the first time that a palaeonto- 

 logist has visited this spot, and I am, in consequence, 

 convinced that the objects gathered by Dr. Nathorst, 

 when scientifically treated, will yield many new data on 

 the copious flora which orice covered the ice-laden regions 

 round the Pole. 



" finally, the expedition has brought home some 

 splendid specimens of the remarkable minerals found at 

 the well known deposits at Kangerdluarsuk and Ivigtut, 

 while 1 have on the inland ice collected, as previously 

 stated, a great many samples of the dust found on the 

 ice, and which I have named kryokonite. I hope, when 

 this has been exhaustively analysed, to be able to furnish 

 fresh proofs in support of the theory that this deposit is, 

 at all events partly, of cosmic origin, and thereby con- 

 tribute further materials to the theory of the formation 

 of the earth. Dr. Nathorst was, as previously stated, 

 prevented by the ice from reaching Cape York and ex- 

 amining the blocks of ironstone lying there, but their 

 existence has been corroborated beyond doubt by the 

 Esquimaux in the neighbourhood. Here the expedition 

 obtained some valualjle ethnographical objects, and it 

 learnt a fact from the natives which may be of con- 

 siderable importance as to the question of the wanderings 

 of the tribes around the Pole, viz. that four ' Russian 

 Esquimaux ' had come to Wolstenhulme Sound. They 

 said they were the last survivors of a tribe which had 

 left their place of habitation by the Behring Strait (or the 

 northern shore of Asia ?) in search of a new place of 

 settlement, and who had at last reached Smith's Sound. 

 These are the results of my expedition to Greenland in 

 the Sophia. The scientific collections made will be dis- 

 tributed among the museums of my country." 



.A. E. NORDENSKJOLD 



THE ROTHAMSTED GRASS EXPERIMENTS'^ 

 'T'HERE is at Rolhamsted nothing which will more 

 -*■ impress the visitor than the seven acres of meadow 

 land in the Park, the many years' experiments upon which 

 with diflerent manures constitute the subject of the above- 

 named memoir. The twenty parallel plots into which 

 the area is divided appeal at once and forcibly to the eye 

 by the obvious difterences in their herbage. A plot here 

 with rich green grasses waving luxuriantly upon it ; 

 another, on which the yellow meadow vetchling apparently 

 constitutes the leading feature ; a third, irregular, patchy, 

 and much afflicted with the sorrel-dock ; and yet another, 

 on which, at the time of our visit (August), the while- 

 flowered umbels of the earth-nut put everything else in 

 the shade, — these and the like appearances convince with 

 an eloquence which the pen is powerless to imitate. 



The land in Rothamsted Park has probably been laid 

 down with grass for some centuries. No fresh seed has 

 been artificially sown within the last fifty years certainly, 

 nor is there record of any having been sown since the 

 grass was first laid down. The experiments commenced 



\ "Agricultural, Botanical, and Chemical Results of Experiments on the 

 Mixed Herbage of Permanent Meadiw, conducted for more than twenty 

 >ears in succession on the. same land." Part ii., the Botanical Results. 

 By Sir J. B. Lawes, Bart., F.R.S., Dr. J. H. Gilbert, K.R.S., and Dr. 

 M. T. Masters, F.R.S. Phii. Trans., Part iv., 1882. Pp. abuut 250. 



in 1S56, at which time the herbage appeared to be of 

 uniform character. With few exceptions the same 

 description of manure has been applied year after year 

 to the same plot ; and two plots, the third and twelfth, 

 have been continuously unmanurcd. For the first nine- 

 teen years the first crop only was cut and carried away, 

 and the second crop was usually fed off by sheep who 

 were receiving at the time no other food. Of recent 

 years it has been more and more the practice to make the 

 second crop also into hay, and it is intended to adhere to 

 this plan in future, weather permitting. 



The produce of every plot is weighed as hay, and the 

 result calculated per acre. Taking the average of the 

 first twenty years, the unmanured plots, 3 and 12, 

 gave the lowest yields of all, 21:^ and 24 cwt. respec- 

 tively. Next above these is plot 5, manured with 

 ammonia salts ' at the rate of 400 lbs. per acre per annum, 

 the yield giving an annual average of 26j cwt. per acre. 

 The highest average recorded, 62^^ cwt. per acre, resulted 

 from a mixed manure, containing 500 lbs. sulphate of 

 potash, IQO lbs. sulphate of soda, 100 lbs. sulphate ot 

 magnesia, 33 cwt. superphosphate of lime, 600 lbs. 

 ammonia salts, and 400 lbs. silicate of soda, — a tre- 

 mendous dressing, by the way. The average yields on the 

 other plots, each one of which received different manurial 

 treatment from that of the others, range themselves 

 between these extremes. 



But the mere quantitative estimation of the results was 

 a comparatively simple task to that of making a qualita- 

 tive examination of each crop. The proximate analysis 

 was into the three classes of gramineous herbage, legu- 

 minous herbage, and miscellaneous herbage, the last- 

 named containing all plants not referable to the Gra- 

 mineffi or the Leguminosje ; and even this task would not 

 be a very difficult one. But when it is stated that in 

 certain seasons a complete botanical analysis was made, 

 whereby each species of plant was separated from all the 

 others, then the irksomeness of the work will be appre- 

 ciated. For the de;ails of these analyses we must refer 

 to the memoir itself, but the following is worth repro- 

 ducing. '' To quote an extreme case in illustration of the 

 difterence in the character of the herbage, and of the 

 difference in the degree of difficulty of separation accord- 

 ingly, it may be mentioned that whilst a sample of 20 lbs. 

 from one plot in 1872 only occupied from four to five 

 days in botanical analysis, a sample of equal weight from 

 another plot in the same year occupied thirty days." 



The totul number of different species of plants that have 

 been detected on the plots is 89 ; of these, 20 are grasses, 

 10 are leguminous, and the remaining 59 belong to mis- 

 cellaneous orders. The 89 species comprise 59 dicoty- 

 ledons, 26 monocotyledons, and 4 cryptogams, 3 of which 

 are mosses (Hypnum) ; they are arranged under 63 genera 

 and 22 orders. Of the miscellaneous plants there are 13 

 species of Corapositse, 6 of Rosaceie, 5 each of Ranuncu- 

 laceae and Umbellifera?, 3 each of Labiata;, Polygonaceae, 

 Liliacere, Caryophylleffi, Scrophulariaceas, and Musci, 2 

 each of Rubiacea; and Plantaginea?, and i each of Cruci- 

 ferffi, Hypericinea;, Dipsaceaj, Primulaceae, Orchidacete, 

 Juncacese, Cyperacta;, and Filices. Six genera only were 

 represented by more than one species ; these were Ranun- 

 culus, 5 species, Rumex 3, and Potentilla, Galium, Leon- 

 todon, and \'eronica, 2 each. The 20 species of grass 

 comprise 14 genera ; Festuca is represented by 4 species, 

 .A vena by 3, Poi by 2, and Anthoxanthum, Alopccitriis, 

 Phleum, Agrosiis, Aira, Holcits, Briza, Dactylis, 

 Cynosurus, Broinus, and Lolium by i each. The fact 

 that the four genera whose names we have italicised were 

 only represented by one species each serves to indicate 

 somewhat the nature of the land. Had it been wet or 

 marshy in 'fa.'c\.%, Alopecu7-us geniadatus might have been 

 looked for as well as A. pratensis. Had not the plots 



' .\mmonia salts" — In all cases equal pans sulpha 



nd muriate of 



