1909.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 781 



sulphate of potash, 210 lb. per acre. Plot D.- — Superphosphate, 9 cwt. 

 per acre, and ground lime, 10 cwt. per acre. The basic slag and 

 superphosphate applied on plots B, C, and D supplied about 200 lb. of 

 phosphoric acid per acre, and the sulphate of potash on Plot C supplied 

 100 lb. of potash per acre. 



Plot A was manured through the manurial residue of the cake fed 

 to the sheep. In the case of the East of Scotland experiments the cake 

 feeding - was continued for four years, 1902 to 1905, and during 1906 and 

 1907, when it was discontinued, the effect of any residue it had left in 

 the soil was measured. In the case of the West of Scotland experiments 

 cake feeding was continued for five years, 1902 to 1906, and no attempt 

 was made to measure its residual manurial effect. 



The general results of the experiments are summarised as follows : — 



1. The great and rapid improvement which was effected by phos- 

 phatic manures, and especially by basic slag, in the case of the well- 

 known experiments at Cockle Park in Northumberland, has not been 

 obtained on any of the plots in Scotland. 



2. An improvement was effected by all the manures, but of the 

 manures used, only basic slag has in general effected sufficient improve- 

 ment to make the application remunerative. 



3. Even in the case of basic slag, on the average three or four years 

 elapsed before sufficient return was obtained to pay for the slag. On the 

 other hand, the effect of the slag is by no means exhausted even after 

 six years, but in the case of the majority of the experiments it is still 

 giving as great, or nearly as great, returns as ever. 



4. Potash, in the form of sulphate of potash, applied along with basic 

 slag, though it gave a small increase in most of the experiments, did 

 not give sufficient return to pay for its cost. Though the same dressing 

 of potash could be obtained a little more cheaply in other forms, there 

 is no reason to suppose that the results would be essentially different 

 on these soils. 



5. Superphosphate and lime in all cases gave a considerable increase 

 in mutton, but did not in general give sufficient return to be remunera- 

 tive. In no case did it give so good a return as the cheaper dressing 

 of slag alone. 



6. The feeding of cake gave the worst return of all for the expendi- 

 ture. So far as the experiments show, very little result is recoverable 

 from the manure value of cake on these soils. 



7. At some of the centres the soil was covered with a very thick 

 coarse sod of grass of poor quality. On such land clover plants have 

 not room to develop, and in these experiments the effect of the manure 

 is shown only very slowly. Sheep alone are unable to eat down the 

 grass sufficiently, and better results are obtained when both sheep and 

 cattle are grazed on the same plots. 



Manuring of Grass Land (Jour. Roy. Agric. Soc, Vol. 68, 1907).— 

 Two fields of old pasture are under experiment at Woburn, and results 

 for two years are given in this report. On Broad Mead, manure was 

 applied in 1904, and again in 1906-7. In 1905 the least increase was. 

 obtained from the plots receiving (a) 2 tons lime, and (b) 12 tons farmyard 

 manure. There was nothing to choose between 10 cwt. basic slag and 

 5 cwt. superphosphate, each used along with 1 cwt. sulphate of potash, 

 while the highest return came from 10 cwt. basic slag and * 1 cwt. 

 nitrate of potash. In 1906 the plots were all grazed. In 1907, after 



