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MAN U RIAL EXPERIMENTS ON PASTURE LAND. 



The following article deals with the results of two sets of 

 experiments on pasture land, one being made on Burghfield 

 Green Farm, Burghfield, Berks, and the other on the Home 

 Farm, Herriard Park, near Basingstoke, Hampshire. 



The land on which these experiments are being made at 

 Burghfield Green is on the London clay. The surface soil 

 is a clay loam about six inches deep, and lies on a very 

 stiff subsoil ; it has been drained to a depth of four feet 

 The field was laid down to permanent pasture about 20 3^ears 

 ago ; at that time it received a heavy dressing of chalk, and 

 has since been occasionally dressed with road scrapings 

 and one or two light dressings of dung. It was only in fair 

 condition when the experiments were commenced in 1898. 

 The whole field was mown for hay in 1898 and 1899. All 

 the manures were applied at the end of December, 1897, 

 except the nitrate of soda, which was applied in the first week 

 of the following April. In December, 1898, one half of each 

 plot received a further similar dressing of manure for 1899, the 

 nitrate of soda being applied in the following April. 



The following tables give the results calculated per acre on 

 the portions of the plots that were manured in 1898 only, 

 and also on the portions that were manured in 1898 and 

 i8qq. 



The first table shows that all the dressings have given a 

 result, not only in the first, but also in the second year 

 after their application. It shows also that basic slag has 

 proved more economical as a phosphatic manure than super- 

 phosphate. Plot 4, however, shows that the addition of 

 nitrate of soda to basic slag has not repaid the cost for the 

 two years. The addition of kainit on plot 5 to the manures 



