1910.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 751 



both in grain and straw being obtained by the application of super- 

 phosphates, potash, and nitrogen in various forms. 



The Cure of Soil Acidity. — The soil on a plot at Woburn, which 

 has been manured continuously for many years with sulphate of 

 ammonia for barley, has become too acid to grow a crop. An attempt 

 was made in this experiment to remove this acidity by oxidising 

 materials, such as sulphate of iron, sulphate of copper, pyrogallic 

 acid, and animal charcoal. None of these materials proved success- 

 ful. 



Inoculation of Leguminous Crops. — Ordinary white clover, mam- 

 moth white clover, red clover, and lucerne were inoculated with 

 Nitro-bacterine. The difference between the inoculated and uninocu- 

 lated crops was too small to allow of any deductions being drawn. 



The Relative Amounts of Dry Matter in Varieties of Swedes (Pro- 

 ceedings of the Univ. of Durham Philosophical Soc, Vol. III., Pt. 5). 

 — In this paper the results of many experiments that have been carried 

 out to test the amount of dry matter in different varieties of swedes 

 at the Armstrong College are classified and compared. The method 

 usually adopted has been to sow the seed of the varieties in the same 

 field with the same manure, several drills of one variety being followed 

 by several drills of another variety. When the swedes are ready for 

 pulling cores are taken from moderate-sized roots with a sampling 

 iron. Two lots of fifty such cores are dried at a temperature of 55 0 to 

 6o° C, and analysed. The percentages of dry matter found in the 

 different varieties are averaged and the individual varieties classified 

 according to their difference from this average. Tables are given 

 showing the method of co-ordinating the percentages found in different 

 sets of experiments, and the probable error in the figures. The order 

 of merit of some varieties as regards percentage of dry matter, and 

 their difference from the average, is given in respect of 582 analyses 

 made in different parts of Great Britain. 



Manuring of Grass Land (Expts. at Kineton, Warwickshire, 19 10). 

 ■ — These experiments have been carried out since 190 1 by Mr. Ernest 

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

 phosphates or phosphates and potash salts have been continuously 

 applied without nitrogen the growth of plants of the clover kind is 

 most conspicuous ; while on the plots on which nitrate of soda has 

 been continuously used without phosphates or potash, the grasses, as 

 distinguished from clovers, are most prominent. The best herbage, 

 however, in which clovers and grasses appear to flourish with equal 

 vigour and luxuriance, is found on the plots on which phosphates and 

 nitrate are used every year. A full account of this experiment, show- 

 ing the results of nine years' manuring, was given in the Journal, 

 October, 1909, p. 592. It has been continued with the same manuring 

 in 1910, and results on similar lines have been obtained. 



Miscellaneous Expts. with Crops (Shepton Mallet Grammar School, 

 Rept., 1909). — Demonstrations on the manuring of mixed grasses with- 

 out clover, mangolds, and broad red clover, have been carried out on 

 the same ground for ten years. Nitrogenous manures were omitted 

 in 1909, and there was found to be an appreciable residue left in the 

 soil from the manuring in previous years with sulphate of ammonia 

 and nitrate of soda, while the latter did not appear to have had the 



