192 REPORT—1862. 
creased growth was characteristically that of root or base-leaves, and there was 
very little tendency to form stem or to ripen. 
5. Nitrate of soda alone, like ammonia-salts alone, considerably increased the 
produce of Graminaceous herbage, and tended chiefly to the production of root- 
foliage. The nitrate, however, strikingly brought into prominence the Alopecurus 
pratensis, at the expense, eggs with the produce by ammonia-salts, chiefly of 
Agrostis vulgaris, and partly of Festuca duriuscula. Otherwise the distribution of 
species was not very materially altered, the more luxuriantly-growing grasses not 
being much developed. The crop was much more leafy than stemmy, very dark 
green, and late; it contained very little Leguminous herbage, though rather more 
than the produce by ammonia-salts alone; and the weedy plants were luxuriant 
rather than numerous—Plantago lanceolata, Centaurea nigra, Rumex acetosa, Achillea 
millefolium, Ranunculus, and Taraxacum all being more or less encouraged. 
6. The combinations of nitrogenous-manured (ammonia-salts or nitrates) and the 
mixed mineral manure gaye by far the largest crops, the largest proportion of 
Graminaceous herbage, the largest proportion referable to a few species, scarcely a 
trace of Leguminous plants, and a small proportion, both in number and amount, of 
miscellaneous or weedy plants. In fact, the total number of species (particularly 
when ammonia-salts were used) was smaller than by any other description of 
manure, in one case only 21, and in another only 24, being detected ; and the Gra- 
minaceous herbage in several cases amounted to 90 per cent. or more of the total 
crop. The produce was very luxuriant, with a good development of stem and stem- 
leaves, and a much greater tendency to ripen than when the ammonia-salts or 
nitrates were used without the mineral manure. The predominating grasses were 
the most bulky and free-growing ones, Dactylis glomerata and Poa trivialis being 
very prominent, and Avena pubescens or A. flavescens, Agrostis vulgaris, Lolium 
perenne, and Holcus lanatus somewhat so, Festuca duriuscula, F. pratensis, Arrhe- 
natherum avenaceum, Alopecurus pratensis, Bromus mollis, and others, were almost 
excluded. 
7. Farmyard manure considerably increased the growth of the grasses and of 
some few weeds, particularly Rumex, Ranunculus, Bunium, and Achillea, and reduced 
that of clover and other Leguminous plants, more especially when used in com- 
bination with ammonia-salts. It greatly encouraged the growth of the good grass 
Poa trivialis, and of the bad one Bromus mollis, and, when in conjunction with 
ammonia-salts, the Dactylis glomerata. Under both conditions, Festuca duriuscula 
and F. pratensis were nearly excluded, and Avena flavescens, A. pubescens, Agrostis 
vulgaris, Lolium perenne, and Arrhenatherum avenaceum were very much, reduced. 
The crops were upon the whole bulky, comparatively simple as to description of 
herbage (not more than 28 species in all being detected), fairly luxuriant both in 
stem and leaf, somewhat rough and coarse, and showed a tendency to unequal 
ripeness. 
1 Graminaceous herbage was only encouraged when nitrogenous manures were 
employed; and when these were used alone, the produce was very leafy, and gene- 
rally (according to the amounts applied) the crop was very dark green and showed 
comparatively little tendency to ripen; but when the nitrogenous manures were 
used in conjunction with mineral manures, the Graminaceous produce was very 
much more luxuriant, very much more stemmy, showed much more tendency to 
ripen, and almost excluded other descriptions of herbage. 
9. Leguminous herbage was almost entirely excluded whenever nitrogenous 
manures were used in any quantity, whether in the form of ammonia-salts or 
nitrates, alone or in combination with mineral manures, but somewhat less so with 
nitrates than with ammonia-salts. Mineral manures alone, containing both potass 
and phosphoric acid, greatly increased the growth of Leguminous plants, particularly 
the perennial red clover and meadow vetchling. Farmyard manure, like artificial 
nitrogenous manures, also, but in a less degree, much diminished the proportion of 
the Leguminous herbage. 
10. Miscellaneous or weedy herbage was diminished in the number of species, 
and in the frequency of occurrence, by every description of manure, but by exclu- 
sively mineral manures less so than by any others. Nitrogenous manures, especially 
in combination with mineral constituents, diminished the number and frequency 
