Use of Artificial Manures. 



435 



When the crop is mature, it will be possible to ascertain the 

 effects of nitrate as follows : — 



Compare Plots I and 2 for the result of using nitrate alone. 



Compare Plots 3 and 5 for the result of using nitrate with 

 super. 



Compare Plots 4 and 6 for the result of using nitrate with 

 kainit. 



Compare Plots 7 and 8 for the result of using nitrate with 

 both super, and kainit. 



Similar information may be got for super, by taking the plots 

 as follows : — 1 and 3, 2 and 5, 4 and 7, 6 and 8 ; and for kainit 

 by taking Plots 1 and 4, 2 and 6, 3 and 7, 5 and 8. By omitting 

 three plots (2, 3, 4), and having only five (1, 5, 6, 7, 8), informa- 

 tion sufficiently serviceable for many purposes will be obtained, 

 for the test will show the effect (a) of using a general mixture 

 (compare Plots 1 and 8), (b) of omitting nitrogen (compare Plots 

 8 and 7), '(c) of omitting phosphate (compare Plots 8 and 6), 

 (d) of omitting potash (compare Plots 8 and 5). By adding a 

 few plots to either of these sets, supplementary information may 

 be got in regard to the best kind of nitrogen, phosphate, or 

 potash, and, further, as to the best quantity. 



The Manurial Treatment of the More Important Crops. 



The basis of all systems of manuring should be dung. This 

 does not mean that this substance should be applied concurrently 

 with artificial manures, but merely that land from which crops 

 are taken should periodically receive a fair dressing of this 

 fertilizer. Where straw, hay, and roots are consumed on a farm, 

 enough dung will be produced to allow of about one-fourth or 

 one-fifth of the area of arable land and meadows being dressed 

 annually with 10 to 15 loads per acre. As regards the arable 

 land, the dung is applied in some districts to the roots (North 

 of England, Wales, Scotland), in others it is given to the wheat 

 (where bare-fallowing is practised), while elsewhere it may go 

 on to the barley stubble for the seeds, hay (Suffolk), or be used in 

 other ways. Although on land that naturally grows strong 

 straw the supply of dung may alone maintain a farm in fair 

 fertility, it seldom, if ever, happens that the home-made supplies 



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