PREFACE 



The experiments in the Manuring of Poor Pasture Land, 

 described in this Report, were designed in the first instance 

 by Professor Somerville, and were commenced in 1896 under 

 his supervision at the Northumberland County Demonstra- 

 tion Farm at Cockle Park. In 1898, Professor Somerville 

 submitted to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries a pre- 

 liminary report which showed the necessity for further experi- 

 ments on similar lines, and in the following year the Board 

 approached several public bodies with a view to the organisa- 

 tion of experiments in different parts of Great Britain. 

 Eventually arrangements were made with the Bath and West 

 and Southern Counties Society, the Highland and Agricul- 

 tural Society of Scotland, and the Agricultural Department 

 of the University of Cambridge, by which those bodies agreed 

 to undertake the further experiments required, a substantial 

 contribution being made by the Board towards the expendi- 

 ture entailed. The aggregate sums paid by the Board for the 

 purpose during the past ten years have amounted to ,£2,055, 

 in addition to which the Board have made an Annual Grant 

 towards the general expenses of maintaining the Cockle Park 

 Experiment Station. 



The result of these experiments has shown that the conclu- 

 sions which were drawn from the original Cockle Park experi- 

 ment, and the recommendations made, are applicable to very 

 large areas of pasture land in this country. 



Up to the present, however, although these results have 

 been communicated to the public through the medium of 

 separate Bulletins issued by the Institutions carrying out the 

 experiments, no general summary or review of the trials as 

 a whole has been available. 



The Board therefore suggested to Professor Somerville 



