1910.J Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 



749 



the swede crop. In the last rotation, the highest increase in the crop 

 over the unmanured plot was made on a plot on which 10 tons per 

 acre of farmyard manure were given to the root crop, and complete 

 artificials to the hay. Though the plot again did well in 1909, the 

 best results were obtained from the application of 10 tons of dung and 

 3 cwt. complete artificials, both to the root and the hay crops. 



In another experiment, five miniature farms are laid out, each 

 ■consisting of four plots, of an acre in area. They are worked on a 

 four-course rotation, and manured alike, with the object of finding the 

 total produce obtained with five different systems, viz. : selling off 

 barley, feeding linseed cake to cattle, applying nitrate of soda, selling 

 half the hay, and feeding all produce to cattle. The results for the 

 years 1903-9 are given in this report. 



Calcium Cyanamide and Nitrate of Lime (Aberdeen and N. of 

 Scotland Coll. of Agric, Leaflet No. 9). —These two manures have been 

 tested during three years on the potato crop, on fifteen farms. A 

 dressing of superphosphate and potash manure was applied to all the 

 plots, and the two new nitrogenous manures, together with sulphate 

 of ammonia and nitrate of soda, in quantities sufficient to provide 

 the same amount of nitrogen in each case, were compared. The 

 results from sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of lime, and nitrate of soda 

 were very similar, but the yield from calcium cyanamide was somewhat 

 less. 



A similar experiment was carried out in 1909 on hay. Each plot 

 was top-dressed at the rate of 40 lb. phosphoric acid, 30 lb. potash, 

 and 20 lb. nitrogen per acre, the last being supplied by 1 cwt. sulphate 

 of ammonia, 1 cwt. calcium cyanamide, 1^ cwt. nitrate of lime, or 

 if cwt. nitrate of soda. 



The results from these two experiments appeared to show that 

 calcium cyanamide and nitrate of lime are suitable sources of nitrogen 

 for potatoes, and that nitrate of lime may take the place of the older 

 manures for top-dressing hay. Calcium cyanamide is unsuitable for 

 grass land, and was only included for comparative purposes. 



Nitrate of Lime as a Top-dressing for Oats (Northumberland C.C. 

 Educ. Com., Bull. 14, Guide to Expts. at Cockle Park for 1910). — 

 Three f-acre plots of - oats were top-dressed, with the following 

 results :— 139 lb. nitrate of lime (17I lb. nitrogen), 46! bush.; 112 lb. 

 nitrate of soda (17! lb. nitrogen), 38 bush. ; no top-dressing, 31 bush. 



Influence of Magnesia on Wheat and Potatoes (Jqur. Roy. Agric. 

 Soc, Vol. 70, 1909). — Pot-culture experiments appeared to show that, 

 as the proportion of magnesia to lime in the soil increased, the crop 

 suffered in growth, and the grain underwent modification, and in 

 1908 experiments to test the point on a field scale were 

 started. Magnesia (MgO) was applied to wheat at the 

 rates of 3 cwt. and 6 cwt. per acre. No marked results 

 were produced in the weight of the crops, but milling and baking tests 

 indicated that as the amount of magnesia increased the inferiority of 

 the grain became more marked. The 1909 crop on the same land was 

 top-dressed with 1^ cwt. per acre of magnesia ground fine, and the 

 results from the plots on which 6 cwt. had been applied the previous 

 year gave an indication of the tendency of magnesia to reduce the crop. 

 The grain from these plots was again valued at a lower figure. 



