1910.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 585 



while the last two weeks of April, and nearly all May 

 were dry. In these unfavourable circumstances the land manured 

 in the previous December showed to advantage strikingly, the crop 

 of mangolds being 17*2 tons, while on the land manured in April it 

 was only 9*0 tons. 



Nitrate of Lime and Calcium Cyanamide (Coll. of Agric, Holmes 

 Chapel, Cheshire, Year Book, 1909).- — Nitrate of lime and calcium 

 cyanamide were tried in comparison with nitrate of soda on mangolds 

 and swedes. With the swedes calcium cyanamide gave results about 

 equal to those of nitrate of soda, while nitrate of lime did rather 

 better, probably owing to the good effect on that crop of the lime 

 contained in the .fertiliser. In the case of the mangolds nitrate of 

 soda gave slightly better results than either of the new manures. 

 Neither of these manures appears to injure the seed if applied at the 

 time of seeding, but a small quantity of calcium cyanamide applied 

 directly on the young mangold plants caused distinct injury. 



Miscellaneous Manurial Experiments (Rothamsted Expt. Sta., Ann. 

 Rept., 1909). — The residual values of farmyard and other manures 

 applied at different periods are being ascertained on barley in Hoos 

 Field and on various crops in Little Hoos Field, and the weights of 

 produce obtained from the plots in 1909 are given in this report. 



Four different nitrogenous manures were compared in 1909. Super- 

 phosphate was applied to all the plots, and each of the nitrogenous 

 manures in quantity sufficient to supply 50 lb. of nitrogen per acre. 

 The crop was barley, and the following average yields of dressed 

 grain were obtained, each plot being in duplicate : — No nitrogenous 

 manure, 28*7 bush.; nitrate of soda, 48' 1 bush.; sulphate of ammonia, 

 49*0 bush.; nitrate of lime, 46' 1 bush.; calcium cyanamide, 45*2 bush. 



Nitrate of Lime and Calcium Cyanamide (Jour. Roy. Agric. Soc, 

 Vol. 70, 1909).— Experiments were made with four nitrogenous top 

 dressings on wheat, barley, mangolds, and potatoes. The 

 barley and mangolds were both exceptionally good crops, and 

 the plots to which no top dressings were applied gave equally good 

 results with the others, so that no conclusions as to the relative 

 efficiency of the manures could be made. The wheat had been fol- 

 lowed by a previous wheat crop, so that the land was not in such high 

 condition. Here a general dressing of 3 cwt. of superphosphate and 

 1 cwt. of sulphate of potash per acre was given, and on four plots 

 respectively, each in duplicate, 1 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia per acre 

 and sufficient nitrate of soda, calcium nitrate, and calcium cyanamide to 

 supply the same quantity of nitrogen as the sulphate of ammonia. The 

 crops of grain, taking the average of the duplicate plots, were : — No top 

 dressing, 12*4 bush. ; sulphate of ammonia, 16*5 bush. ; nitrate of soda, 

 19*6 bush.; calcium nitrate, 16*2 bush.; calcium cyanamide, 17' 1 bush. 



The potatoes were manured with 12 tons per acre of London dung, 

 3 cwt. superphosphate, and 1 cwt. sulphate of potash, and the same 

 top dressings were applied as to the wheat. This crop also was good, 

 but the nitrogenous manures exerted a small influence. The total 

 crops, excluding diseased potatoes, were : — Standard dressing only, 



13 tons 17 cwt. ; sulphate of ammonia, 15 tons 2 cwt. ; nitrate of soda, 



14 tons 13 cwt. ; calcium nitrate, 14 tons 13 cwt. ; calcium cyanamide, 

 14 tons 11 cwt. The conclusion is drawn that there is little to choose 

 between the four nitrogenous manures, so far as the efficacy of the 



