of Manures Applied to Pasture. 



47 



Cransley. At that station the superphosphate plot (No. 5) 

 did very badly for three seasons, being much injured by the 

 excessive rainfall of 1903, so that it furnished a gross gain 

 of only 3s. gd. on the eight years' work. The adjoining- 

 plot (No. 4) getting a corresponding quantity of slag, has 

 given a profit in the same time of 39s. 3d. Had potash been 

 added to slag, instead of to superphosphate, it is practically 

 certain that it would not have so increased the mutton-yield, 

 over that got by slag alone, as to cover its cost. The more one- 

 experiments with potash on grass-land the more one realises 

 how uncertain is its action. In the case of permanent grass- 

 land mown every year, or most years, for hay, and receiving 

 no farmyard manure, potash can often be used profitably in? 

 a mixture of artificial manures. Under these circumstances 

 a large part of the potash taken up by the crop is carted off 

 the land, and more must be added to provide for crop require- 

 ments. But even if this be called a general rule, it is at 

 least one to which there are many exceptions. At Cockle 

 Park, for instance, there are two experimental fields separated 

 only by a highway. In the one a rotation experiment has 

 been in progress for 14 years, and each time that the land 

 comes under turnips the crop is practically a failure where 

 nitrogen and phosphate are used, but no potash. On the 

 other side of the road an experiment on a permanent meadow 

 on somewhat stronger land has been in progress for the same 

 length of time, and there potash is not only not required, 

 but it actually does harm in most instances. On the average 

 of 13 years on this grass-land, cut annually for hay, the 

 following results have been obtained (the basis of annual 

 manuring being 30 lbs. N supplied by sulphate of ammonia, 

 50 lbs. P 2 0 5 supplied by superphosphate or slag, and 50 lbs* 

 K 2 0 supplied by sulphate or muriate of potash) : — 



Potash used alone has reduced the average crop by 3I cwt. 



added to nitrogen „ ,, 3i >> 



,, phosphate has increased the average crop by cwt. 



nitrogen and phosphate has reduced the average crop by £ cwt. 



Even in the thirteenth year the potash is acting no better 

 than it did in the earlier years of the experiment. It is 

 true that the hay grown by phosphate and potash was proved 

 by experiment to be of higher feeding value than hay grown 



D 2 



