1036 Summary of Agricultural Experiments, [march, 



Where, however, farmyard manure was given, the texture of the 

 soil was so much better that a good plant, and crops up to 21 tons per 

 acre, were obtained. 



In a comparative test with various forms of nitrogenous manure 

 for mangolds, nitrate of soda gave better results than nitrate of lime, 

 sulphate of ammonia, and calcium cyanamide. 



Manuring for Milk (Midland Agric. and Dairy Coll., Bull. 2, 1911-12). 

 — This experiment, previously noted (Journal, August, 191 1, p. 416, and 

 January, 191 1, p. 852), was continued in the year 191 1, and the results 

 of the grazing in that year are given in the Bulletin forming the Third 

 Interim Report. 



The experiment was begun in 1909, when two plots of 4 acres each 

 were laid out in a grass field, which, through bad management in 

 laying down, and annual removal of hay, was in a very poor condition. 

 In the spring of 1909 both plots received 10 cwt. of ground lime per 

 acre. One of them received in addition 4 cwt. superphosphate and 1^ cwt. 

 sulphate of potash per acre, and during the three years the two plots 

 have been grazed separately by cows in milk to determine the improve- 

 ment due to the superphosphate and the sulphate of potash. No 

 manures have been given to either plot since 1909. 



In 191 1 the effect of the manures was not so marked as in the 

 previous season, and, owing to the dry season, the yields of milk from 

 both plots were adversely affected. In spite of these, the manured 

 plot increased the yield of milk at the rate of 81 gallons an acre for 

 the grazing season, compared with the yield produced by the unmanured 

 plot. In 1909 the difference was 84 gallons, and in 1910 86 gallons 

 per acre. As the cost of the manures was only 295. an acre, the 

 manuring has even up to the present resulted in a handsome profit, 

 and its effect appears to be by no means exhausted. 



The Manurial Value of Phosphoric Acid contained in Oil Cakes (Jour. 

 Coll. of Agric, Imp. Univ. of Tokyo, Vol. I., No. 3, 191 1). — In Japan, 

 oil cakes are largely used as manures, and it is pointed out that while 

 they are chiefly valued as a source of nitrogen, they also contain appreci- 

 able quantities of phosphoric acid, e.g., analyses of soy bean cake and 

 rape seed cake show 1*3 per cent, and 2*25 per cent, respectively of total 

 phosphoric acid. Experiments previously carried out have, however, 

 indicated that this is in a much less available condition than that in 

 animal manures, such as steamed bone flour. 



The greater part of the phosphoric acid appears to be contained 

 in a substance, phytin, which is split up under the action of an enzyme, 

 phytase, and the phosphoric acid liberated in a soluble inorganic 

 compound. 



The experiments, of which an account is given,. were designed to 

 test how far the low availability of the phosphoric acid in rape seed 

 and soy bean cake is due to the destruction or weakening of the 

 phytase in the heating during the extraction of oil, and to see if the 

 availability could not be increased by adding to the cake a quantity of 

 rice bran — a substance which contains considerable quantities of the 

 phytin-splitting enzyme. 



It was found that rice bran did, under suitable conditions, transform 

 the organic phosphoric compounds of the cakes to simple inorganic 

 soluble ones. 



