PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



369 



the resultant herbage, but it was felt that we were still in a state of much 

 uncertainty in respect of the quality of the hay, that is to eay, its effect on 

 animals consuming it. This induced Middleton i« in the winter of 1900-1 to 

 carry out a feeding experiment with sheep at Cockle Park, and in 1905-6 and 

 1907-8 Gilchrist " continued and amplified this work. The sheep were accom- 

 modated in a special house. The various lots of sheep all got equal quantities 

 of roots, cake, and hay. The hay employed was the produce of variously 

 manured plots on old grass land which I laid out in 1897. The soil is a clay 

 loam on a boulder clay subsoil. This set of experiments includes the eight-plot 

 test, and it may be interesting to see what influence nitrogen, phosphoric acid, 

 and potash respectively have on the produce. The quantitative figures refer 

 to the average annual yield for 21 years, 1897-1917, while the figures which 

 indicate the relative values of the produce, as determined by the live weight 

 increatie of sheep, are based upon the feeding tests already specified. The 

 hay from the unmanured plot. No. 6, is assumed to be worth 4-1. per ton. 

 The results are set out in the accompanying table. 



Nitrogen derived from sulphate of ammonia, and used at the rate of 30 lb. 

 per acre per annum, has consistently increased the yield and as consistently 

 reduced the quality. When used alone the nitrogen has increased the crop by 

 3-J cwt. per acre, and reduced the feeding value of the hay by 8s. per ton. 

 When added to phosphates the nitrogen ha.s increased the yield by 45 cwt. and 

 reduced the quality by 9s. per ton. When nitrogen was added to potash the 

 yield has been raised by 5 cwt. per acre, and the value lowered by 8s. per 

 ton When used as an addition to both phosphates and potash the nitrogen 

 has increased the yield by 4i cwt. per acre, while the value has fallen by 

 12.'?. 7f/. per ton. Even if the quality of the hay be disregarded, the use of 

 nitrogen has always been attended by an adverse financial balance ; when 

 quality is taken into account this undesirable result is greatly emphasised. 



As regards phosphoric acid, an increased yield has been consistently obtained 

 by its use, accompanied in every case by a marked improvement in the quality 

 of the hay. Taking the arithmetical mean, the increase in quantity has been 

 nearly 8^ cwt. per acre, while the increase in quality is represented by 16«. 

 per ton. 



The behaviour of potash is rather peculiar. It has quite distinctly reduced 

 the yield when used alone- or wiien used in combination with nitrogen only, 

 while under both these sets of circumstances it has had no influence one way 

 or other on the quality of the hay. When added to phosphates it has proved 

 powerless to increase the yield, but it has raised the feeding value of the hay 

 by 8s. 9rf. per ton. When added to both nitrogen and phosphates the potash 

 has been practically inoperative so far as yield is concerned, but it has improved 

 the quality by 5s. 2d. per ton. 



These results show that very erroneous conclusions may be reached if, in 

 experimental work on meadow hay, attention is only given to the weights of 



'* Sixth Annual Report on Experiments . . . at Cockle Park, 1902. p. 19. 

 " Bulletin No. 8 of Northumberland Education Committee, 1906, p. 69; 

 and Guide to Experiments at Cockle Park for 1916, p. 30. 



