416 



Heating or Fermentation of Hay. [oct., 



the loams and moorland clays of North Devon, and the poor 

 loams and peaty soils of East Somerset, where the soil for the 

 most part is held by coarse rank weeds, and in every instance 

 the results of a single application of basic slag in the early 

 spring, at the rate of six to eight hundredweights per acre, have 

 been strikingly manifested during the first season following the 

 application. In more than one case of a field overrun by 

 carnation-grass, rush, and bents, with moss filling every inter- 

 space, and entire patches of herbage consisting exclusively of 

 yellow-rattle, hardheads, or other coarse-growing weeds, it has 

 been observed in the course of a few months after the applica- 

 tion of basic slag that a complete transformation has been 

 effected in the character of the herbage — the weeds have gone 

 under, and the clovers have been stimulated to such an extent 

 as to convert the pasture into a perfect clover-ley. 



If it be objected that basic slag alone appears to exercise 

 little effect upon the grasses, as compared with the clovers of 

 the pasture, it may be well to bear in mind that the growth 

 of the grasses has in no instance been found to be prejudiced by 

 the encouragement of the clovers, whilst in some cases the basic 

 slag has undoubtedly stimulated certain species of grass. On 

 the other hand, the experiments have demonstrated that the 

 application of a nitrogenous manure, following upon the basic 

 slag, has a powerfully stimulating effect on every species of 

 grass normally present in the pasture. 



It is well known that when hay which is not quite dry is 



placed in a shed or stack, spontaneous generation of heat 



takes place. It has generally been held 



The Heating* that this action is entirely due to the work 

 or Fermentation . , : 



Of Hay * a activity of bacteria, but recent investi- 



gations by Boekhout and Vries at the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station of Hoorn, in Holland, appear 

 to prove that the fermentation of hay is a purely chemical 



* From C&nira'.blati fiir Bai.'erioJojie, Parasilcnkunie u- Inftkiionskrankhiiier^ 

 September, 1904. 



