of Manures Applied to Pasture. 



13 



of mutton are 2-3 times as great. The rental value may be 

 put at nearly 10s. per acre. The labour involved in carrying 

 through the experiment was practically the same at both 

 stations, and those responsible for the experiment were ex- 

 tremely fortunate in securing the services of Mr. W. Ashcroft, 

 Steward of the Bath and West Society, as supervisor of 

 the work. 



Before putting on any manure a season's grazing (1900) 

 of the plots was undertaken in order to ascertain the natural 

 variations of the land unaffected by any treatment. The 

 result of this preliminary test showed (see Table V.) that 

 the live-weight increase was lowest on Plot 5 (65 lbs. per 

 acre) and highest on Plot 6 (81 lbs. per acre). In a sense it 

 was fortunate that this latter plot should have proved to be 

 naturallv the best, seeing that it remained unmanured 

 throughout the experiment, and was the basis of comparison 

 for all the others. This ensures that the effects of the treat- 

 ment applied to the other plots are in no way due to their 

 condition. 



Experiments at Cransley, Northamptonshire, 



In the same year as that in which experiments were com- 

 menced at Sevington, arrangements were entered into be- 

 tween the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, Cambridge 

 University, and Northampton County Council for starting a 

 duplicate station in Northants. Land was secured on a stretch 

 of poor boulder clay at Cransley, about four miles from Ketter- 

 ing, at an altitude of 450-500 feet above sea level, and ten 

 plots were laid down as at the other centres. The field had 

 been down to grass for some 20 years, and its value may be 

 put at 10s. per acre. As in the case of Sevington, the soil of 

 every plot was sampled and analysed at the start of the 

 work, the average figures being shown in Table I. Except 

 that the soil at Cransley is rather deficient in lime, it shows 

 a very close resemblance to that at Sevington. The botanical 

 composition of the herbage in 1905 as regards certain species 

 is shown on page 11, where it will be seen that Crested 

 Dogstail is the predominant grass. The average weight of 

 hay on the unmanured plot is only 6J cwt. per acre, while 

 the average live-weight increase on the untreated plot is 

 44 lbs. As regards natural productiveness, therefore, 



B 



