Manuring of Pastures. 209 



and effective phosphatic manure for this purpose, having- 

 given good results for five years after its application. 



A potash manure, such as kainit or sulphate of potash, was 

 found to be useful on the lighter soils, notably on the chalk 

 downs, where it greatly improved the quality of the herbage 

 and developed leguminous plants ; on the heavier soils, how- 

 ever, potash manures were, as a rule, not effective, although 

 there have been indications in the past two years that, even on 

 some heavy soils, good results are given by these manures. 

 On the lighter soils, and especially on chalk and calcareous 

 soils, superphosphate proved to be quicker in its action, and 

 probably more economical, than basic slag. 



Nitrogenous manures, such as nitrate of soda and sulphate 

 of ammonia, generally increased the bulk considerably in the 

 first year, but made the pasture coarser. After the first year 

 the pasture was invariably coarser where nitrate of soda had 

 been applied, whether the plot was grazed or mown, and the 

 conclusion arrived at was that even one dressing of nitrate of 

 soda applied to a pasture will, in after years, have a bad 

 effect ; this has been found to be the case in these experi- 

 ments whether the nitrate of soda was applied by itself or in 

 combination with other manures. A striking general result 

 also is that where plots were mown for hay, nitrate of soda 

 in combination with other manures generally increased the 

 crop of hay in the first year, but in many cases there was no 

 such increase when the application of this manure was con- 

 tinued for a second and later years, while the quality of the 

 herbage and of the hay made from it was invariably better 

 where phosphatic and potash manures only had been applied 

 than where these manures were accompanied with nitrate 

 of soda. 



Common salt was applied to pasture at several centres and 

 gave almost invariably a negative result, so that, so far as 

 these experiments go, this substance could not be recom- 

 mended as an application for pasture land ; there is no 

 evidence to show that it makes pasture finer, as is popularly 

 supposed. 



Lime was applied at several centres, but only in a few 

 cases with good results ; at no centre did it give a profitable 



