529 



At Bessbrook, Ballywater, and Dniuiadiift' the response to 

 phosphates after the appHcation of farmyard manure was so small 

 as to make the results of no value as a measure of the relative 

 efficiency of the various phosphates. 



At Cloughmills, Ballynure, and Crossgar there has been a 

 striking response to phosphates. The soil at Cloughmills is a 

 medium loam, at Ballynure a light loam and at Crossgar a light 

 sand. At Cloughmills superphosphate and basic Bessemer slag 

 had a slight advantage over the Gafsa phosphate. At Bally- 

 nure the Gafsa phosphate gave slightly the better result. At 

 this centre the basic phosphates have done uniformly better 

 than superphosphates. The failure of the crop in the absence of 

 phosphates is striking. The farmer, Mr. W. McC. Barklie, 

 J. P., emphatically stated at the commencement of the experi- 

 ment that we would not get a crop on the ' ' no phosphate 

 plot." The turnip plants brairded satisfactorily, but with the 

 exception of three plants they failed to make any further 

 growth . 



On the light sandy soil at Crossgar a very satisfactory re- 

 sponse of from 11 to 14 tons per acre followed the addition of 

 phosphates to dung. At this centre also there was no practical 

 difference between the return from Gafsa phosphate and from 

 high soluble slag. There is evidence that under the conditions 

 at Crossgar they are both to be preferred to superphosphate. 



The Irish experiments are only in the preliminary stages and 

 it is not the purpose of the writer to draw definite conclusions 

 from them. They do, however, show that the results obtained 

 with rock phosphates on grass land in Essex are applicable to 

 certain arable soil conditions. In continuance of this work a 

 further series of rotation experiments with rock phosphates and 

 two big grazing trials were laid down in the spring of this 

 year hy the Ministry of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. 



Conclusions from the Field Experiments. — 1. Open Hearth 

 Fluorsimr Basic^ Slags. — On the whole the results must be taken 

 as show'ing that these slags are not as effective as the high 

 soluble types. They have, however, a considerable value, and 

 are not so bad as the solubility figures would suggest. Where 

 the rainfall is high and the soil sour their effectiveness may 

 closely approximate to that of the more solul)le types. Where 

 the soil is not decidedly sour and where the rainfall is low^ their 

 inferiority is more clearly marked. For the manuring of grass 

 land the writer is of opinion that if the value of the high 



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