324 



MANURES FOR A FOUR YEARS' ROTATION. 



In the autumn of 1897 the Hampshire County Council 1 

 leased i\ acres at Botley as a station for field trials. 

 The land is in the field between and near the junction 

 of the roads leading from Botley to Bishop's Waltham and 

 Botley to Wickham, and is within easy access of Botley 

 station. 



During* the four years 1 898-1 901 a four-course rotation of 

 crops has been grown on this land, and eight plots, each a 

 quarter acre in area, were manured in different ways at the 

 beginning of the rotation, one plot only being also manured 

 in the third year. The Botley Farmers' Club has co-operated' 

 in the conduct of the trials. 



The soil is a useful loam, which is fairly deep, and is 

 suitable for most crops ; the subsoil is similar, but is lighter 

 in colour, with a considerable amount of gravel. The 

 previous cropping was as follows ? 1897, trifolium, unmanured,. 

 which was cut green and carted off; and 1896, potatoes, 

 which received thirty loads an acre of farmyard manure. 

 The particul-rs of the rotation of crops and of the m anuring 

 are shown in the table. All the manures were applied for the 

 mang-el crop towards the end of December, 1897, except 

 nitrate of soda, which was applied as a topdressing in 

 the spring of 1898 to the young mangel plants. The 

 manures for the young- seeds on plot 5 were applied in 

 October, 1899. 



The mangels in 1898 suffered considerably from drought, 

 and, as the crop was deficient on portions of the plots, one 

 rod of each plot was selected, and the roots weighed. The 

 results are calculated to acres, and shown in the table. 



