668 Summary of Agricultural Experiments, [nov., 



ios. qd. per acre, gave almost equal results. Possibly the best was a 

 mixture composed of red clover, 4 lb. ; white clover, 4 lb. ; alsike, 2 lb. ; 

 Italian ryegrass, 2 lb.; perennial ryegrass, 41b.; total, 16 lb. per acre. 

 This cost 115. or 8^d. per lb., and produced in 1908 2 tons 7 cwt. 



of hay, and in 1909 2 tons 1 cwt. 



Wild White Clover {Dept. of Agric. and Tech. Instr. for Ireland, 

 Sth Rept. on Expts. on Field Crops in Co. Antrim, 1909). — During 

 several years a considerable number of experiments have been carried 

 out with seeds mixtures for pasture. Some of the plots have now 

 been grazed for four years, and the outstanding feature has been the 

 success of wild white clover. On the plots on which ordinary white 

 clover was sown there is now only an odd plant, but the wild white 

 variety still grows luxuriantly. Two to four pounds per acre of this 

 instead of the ordinary white clover are recommended. 



Manuring of Pasture (Northumberland C.C. Educ. Com., Bull. 14, 

 Guide to Expts. at Cockle Park for 19 10). —These experiments on the 

 improvement of poor pasture, which have been carried on in Tree Field 

 since 1897, were designed to test the question whether the application 

 of artificial manures would, at a less cost, so improve the herbage 

 that sheep would lay on more mutton than animals fed with cake 

 while grazing unmanured land. The results for the nine years 1897- 

 1905 were summarised in the Journal for December, 1906, p. 549. The 

 soil, which is of a most even character, is a poor clay and clay loam, 

 lying on a subsoil of poor Boulder Clay. Before 1897 was worth 

 only 25. 6d. per acre per annum for grazing purposes. There are eleven 

 plots, each 3 acres in area. A new scheme of treatment was begun in 

 1906. The plots are now grazed by sheep for fourteen weeks each summer, 

 and the sheep are weighed every seven weeks. The most important 

 results (per acre) are shown in the following table, the last column being 

 obtained by valuing at 3§d. per lb. the mutton produced on the manured 

 plots in excess of that on the unmanured plot, and deducting the cost 

 of the treatment : — 



Treatment for 1906 and later. 



Cost of 

 treatment 

 (4 years.) 



Average of 4 years 1906-9. 



Live-weight in- 

 crease of sheep over 

 unmanured plot. 



Average 

 annual gain. 



600 lb. decorticated cotton cake 

 fed to sheep annually till 1908 ... 



Basic Slag, 10 cwt., 1906 ... 



Basic Slag, 5 cwt., 1906, repeated, 

 1909 



£ s. d. 

 687 

 144 



1 4 4 



lb. 

 121 

 109 



84 



£ s. d. 



5 7 

 1 8 0 



102 



The addition of potash, lime, or nitrate of soda to the dressing of 

 slag has not given any adequate return. 



Another experiment on Hanging Leaves Fields has been carried 

 on during 1903-9, the object being to ascertain how the improvement 

 commenced by basic slag can be maintained and developed. The 

 results show that slag is the most effective manure for this purpose, 

 as it supplies both phosphates and lime, which are deficient in this 

 clay soil. The soil is also deficient in nitrogen, but this is collected 

 by the roots of the leguminous plants, which are developed by the 



