44 Influence on the Production of Mutton 



Although there was no perfectly direct comparison between 

 slag and superphosphate in the experiments conducted by the 

 Highland Society and the West of Scotland College of Agri- 

 culture, a modified comparison is possible, in as far as one plot 

 got slag only, while another got superphosphate plus ground 

 lime. In stating the results Mr. Hendrick says:* "An im- 

 provement was effected by all the manures, but of the manures 

 used it is only basic slag which has in general effected suffi- 

 cient improvement to make the application remunerative. 

 Even in the case of Basic Slag, on the average three or four 

 years elapsed before sufficient return was obtained to pay tor 

 the slag. On the other hand, the effect of the slag is by no 

 means exhausted even after six years, but in the case of the 

 majority of the experiments it is still giving as great, or nearly 

 as great, returns as ever. Superphosphate and lime : though 

 in all cases this dressing gave a considerable increase in 

 mutton, it did not in general give sufficient return to be 

 remunerative. In no case did it give so good a return as the 

 cheaper dressing of slag alone." The results for the Scottish 

 stations making this test are brought together in Table XIX., 

 while those for Cockle Park, Sevington, and Cransley may 

 be studied in Tables IV., V., and VI. 



The Effects of adding Potash to Phosphate. 



When these experiments were started an opinion was 

 generally prevalent that much grass-land could be improved, 

 quantitatively and economically, by the use of some form 

 of potash along with phosphates, say superphosphate or 

 basic slag. The testimony of Rothamsted is very strongly 

 in favour of the use of potash in a grass manure, the gross 

 yield of hay and the proportion of leguminous herbage being 

 markedly increased on the plots where it has been employed. 

 On two series of four stations each that I laid down in 

 Cumberland in the winter of 1894-5, it was found that potash 

 in the form of kainit had, by the fifth season, produced a 

 conspicuous and consistent increase in the Leguminosae.f On 

 the Tree Field at Cockle Park, also, clovers, trefoil, meadow 



* Trans. High. Soc, 1908, p. 304. 



t Somerville, "Influence of Manures on the Botanical Composition of permanent 

 Grass-land," Jour. Board of Agriculture, vol. vii., p. 145. 



