1909.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 591 



Manuring of Grass Land (Univ. Coll., Reading, Bull. IV.). — These 

 experiments were designed to illustrate the influence of the chief 

 artificial manures when used singly and in combination, and also to 

 determine what is the most efficient and most economical dressing to 

 apply to the grass land of the county. The trials have been made for 

 two or three years at 18 centres, and are being continued. On the 

 average during three years the complete dressing of artificial manures, 

 viz., 1 cwt. nitrate of soda, 5 cwt. basic slag, 2 cwt. kainit, has produced 

 the heaviest crop of hay, 2 tons i| cwt. ; 16 loads of dung comes next, 

 producing 1 ton 19 cwt. Other plots received single fertilisers, or 

 the above-mentioned mixture with one of the ingredients omitted. 

 Professor Percival observes that " there is no comparison between the 

 quality obtained by the use of dung and that obtained by the use of 

 artificial manures. The herbage on the dung plots is of a coarse low- 

 grade quality, while that on the complete manure plot or the others 

 where slag is used is of superior value, being largely composed of 

 clover and other leguminous plants, along with the finer grasses of 

 better feeding quality." Analyses of the soils on which the experiments 

 are being conducted are given in the report. 



Manuring of Grass Land (Cumberland and Westmorland Farm 

 School, Annual Rept., 1907-8). — Trial plots have been manured every 

 third year for eleven years, the last application being in 1905. The 

 yields for 1906 and 1907 were, therefore, dependent on residual manurial 

 matter, proved to be heavy in both years. The plot which received 10 

 tons farmyard manure gave n cwt. per acre more than the unmanured 

 plot, and that which received f- cwt. nitrate of soda, i| cwt. kainit, and 

 3 cwt. superphosphate, 9 cwt. more than the unmanured plot. For the 

 average of the eleven years these differences were 13 cwt. and 9 cwt. 

 respectively. Basic slag did not give such good results as superphos- 

 phate here, though the difference was not great. 



Effect of Manuring on the Botanical Composition of Pasture (Journ. 

 South-Eastern Agric. Coll., Wye, No. 17, 1908).- — A detailed botanical 

 analysis of the herbage on six plots dressed with different artificials is 

 given. There was no unmanured plot, and no analysis was made before 

 the experiment was begun, so that few conclusions can be drawn, but 

 basic slag is believed greatly to encourage Black Medick and Suckling 

 Clover, while the application of superphosphate, nitrate of soda, or 

 sulphate of potash singly does not have this effect. 



Manuring of Grass Land (Expts. at Kineton, Warwickshire, 1909). — 

 Experiments have been carried out here since 190 1 by Mr. Ernest Parke r 

 J. P., with the co-operation of Dr. Bernard Dyer. 



When this land was first taken over by Mr. Parke it was in very poor 

 condition owing to long-continued neglect as regards manuring. The 

 fields selected in 1901 for these grass experiments had then been down 

 in grass for about ten years. The soil of both fields consisted of clay 

 containing only a small admixture of sand, and may perhaps be best 

 described as " heavy clay loam." 



On analysis both soils were found to be very poor in available phos- 

 phoric acid. The soil of one of the fields (" Upper Hale ") contained a 

 smaller proportion of lime than that of the other (" Five and Three 

 Acres "), and it was accordingly decided to use basic slag as a phosphatic 



