940 Summary of Agricultural Experiments, [feb., 



The writers suggest that it may be possible to apply the method on 

 a large scale either by adopting the old agricultural practice of " paring 

 and burning," or by the injection of cheap volatile antiseptics into the 

 soil with suitable mechanical apparatus. 



Renovation of Poor Pasture Land (Lanes. C.C. Educ Com., Agric. 

 Dept., Farmers' Bulletin No. 22). — This experiment was commenced 

 at four centres in the county of Lancaster in 1906. Five half-acre plots 

 were chosen at each centre, the plots receiving the following dressings 

 per acre tons cob lime, 1 ton ground lime, 10 cwt. basic slag, 



5 cwt. superphosphate + 7 cwt. ground lime, and 5^ cwt. boiled bones. 

 Half of each plot received an additional dressing of 4 cwt. per acre of 

 kainit. In January, 1908, a further application of the same manures 

 was given to each plot. As a subsidiary part of the scheme of renova- 

 tion, a strip of land on each side of the central line dividing the two halves 

 of each plot was sown in April, 1906, with white clover seed, though 

 the seeds were neither harrowed in nor covered with soil. In addition 

 to the preceding group of centres, further plots were subsequently laid 

 down at two other centres. At the first of these, plots were manured 

 as above described, a sixth plot being added which received 5 cwt. 

 superphosphate and 10 cwt. ground limestone. At this centre the white 

 clover seed was covered with soil on part of each plot. At the remain- 

 ing centre no clover was sown ; in each case the dressings of ground 

 lime were replaced by increased quantities of ground limestone. 



No precise information was obtained during the experiment as to 

 the financial advantages resulting from the treatment, as the plots 

 were not fenced off, and stock grazed over the fields at will. A 

 detailed account is therefore given in the report under notice of the 

 improvements which were observed at each centre separately, and the 

 authors of the report, Dr. T. Milburn and Mr. R. C. Gaut, draw the 

 following conclusions from the results of the experiment as a whole : — 



(1) Much of the poor pasture land in Lancashire which, although 

 doubtless satisfactorily under-drained, is covered by inferior grasses, 

 is capable of being not only improved, but converted into good sound 

 grazing land. 



(2) The method of improvement adopted need not necessarily be a 

 costly one, the most important question being to decide as to the kind 

 of material it is essential to employ. 



(3) There are reasons for believing that the second dressing given 

 in 1908 to the plots at the four centres, where the trials were com- 

 menced in 1906, was unnecessary. 



(4) Lime gave decidedly satisfactory results at one centre only. As 

 a rule, whether the dressing used was one of cob lime, ground lime, 

 or ground limestone, it effected only a slow change in the character of 

 the original herbage. 



(5) Phosphatic manures proved the most effective agents in im- 

 proving the value of the pasture, and gave, on the whole, excellent 

 results. 



(6) All the phosphatic dressings used (basic slag, super-lime, boiled 

 bones) did uniformly well, and there was practically nothing in the 

 results at the different centres to show that one was superior to another. 



(7) Potash, added to either a dressing of phosphates or lime, 

 did not effect any marked improvement, though its effect upon the 



