i9i i.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 933 



The plan of the experiments differed slightly from that of the pre- 

 ceding year. Duplicate plots were again arranged with rye 'and 

 barley. The rye plots were arranged as follows : — (a) Drilled in the 

 ordinary way in rows 6 in. apart, no lb. seed per acre; (b) planted in 

 rows 8 in. apart, with 6 in. between the plants, which were afterwards 

 transplanted and deep-set ; (c) drilled in rows 8 in. apart, 55 lb. seed 

 per acre; (d) drilled as in (c), the plants afterwards being earthed up. 



As regards the effect of weather, plots (d) were most injured by 

 frost, while the plants on (c) grew strongly and proved better able to 

 withstand frost. The plants on (b) suffered from drought as in the 

 preceding year, and by April 10th, 19 10, only 48 per cent, of the 

 original plants survived on one of the plots, and only 21 per cent, on 

 the duplicate plot. Hoeing on (c) and earthing up on (d) took place 

 on October 14th, 1909. 



In respect both of length of ear and number of grains in the ear 

 the plants obtained by the ordinary method of cultivation were inferior 

 to those of (b), (c), and (d), but the individual excellencies of the plants 

 on the last three plots were not sufficient to compensate for the 

 deficiency in numbers compared with plot (a), and the greatest 

 yield was obtained from the customary drilling with double the amount 

 of seed (plots a) as shown in the following table : — 







Rye. 



Bar 



ley. 



Cultivation. 



Grain, bushels 

 (60 lb.) 

 per acre. 



Straw, cwt. 

 per acre. 



Grain, bushels 

 (50 lb.) 

 per acre. 



Straw, cwt. 

 per acre. 



a. 



Ordinary cultivation. 



47-8 



51-9 



4 6-6 



35-8 



b. 



Transplanted 



177 



21-4 







c. 



Deep set 



457 



52-6 



53'4 



34-6 



J... 



Earthed up 



40-5 



48-0 



54'i 



32-2 



With rye, therefore, the experiments again showed the ordinary 

 method of cultivation to be most suitable even without taking into 

 account the extra labour involved in the Demtschinsky system. 



In the case of barley, three methods of sowing were adopted — 

 (a) ordinary drilling 6 in. apart, 130 lb. seed per acre; (c) drilled in 

 rows 8 in. apart, 3 in. deep, 65 lb. seed per acre ; (d) as in (c), the 

 plants being earthed up. As will be seen from the above table, the 

 yield of barley was greater where transplantation and earthing up 

 methods were employed than where the ordinary system was adopted. 

 On the other hand, an experiment is mentioned as being carried out 

 at Erlau with barley in which the ordinary method of cultivation was 

 found to give the greatest yield. 



Mineral Content of the Leaves of Fruit Trees (Die landw. Versuchs- 

 Stationen, Band lxxiii., Heft vi.). — This publication contains an account 

 of experiments conducted in 1907, 1908, and 1909 by the Experiment 

 Station for Plant Physiology at Dresden, to determine the relative 

 amounts of various substances in the leaves of fruit trees. Trials were 

 carried out with cherry, pear, apple, and plum trees of the same age 

 (planted in 1890) standing on a grass-grown sandy soil. Removal of 



