96 Report of Experiments on the Growth of Barley, 
(loth nitroc/enous and vnneral) upon succeeding crops, loss of 
constituents by drainage, and some allied points. 
V. — Comparison of the results with those obtained in 
other fields, and under other conditions as to cropping, man- 
uring, (Sec. 
VI. — Summary, and general conclusions, showing the practical 
bearings of the results. 
On this plan, the consideration in Section I. of the fluctuations 
in the quantity and quality of the produce due to season, and in 
Section II. of the average results obtained by the different 
manures over many seasons, will bring before the reader the 
main facts of the field experiments as such. He will then be 
in a position to appreciate the great practical importance, and 
the great scientific interest, of the questions discussed in Sections 
III. and IV., and to judge of the value of the evidence brought 
to bear upon them. 
Section I. Quantity and quality of the Produce obtained 
IN the different Seasons. 
In the following comments on the quantity and quality of the 
produce obtained in each of the twenty seasons separately, the 
observations on the characters of the seasons themselves are 
founded, partly on Mr. Glaisher's quarterly reports, partly on 
our own, and partly on other records ; and they, as well as those 
relating to the crops of the country, may be taken as in the main 
applicable, so far as such brief and general statements can be, to 
a considerable portion of the Midland, Eastern, and South-Eastern 
districts of England. It may be further explained that, to aid 
the study of the characters of the several seasons, and with a 
view to the statements given of them, Tables have been arranged 
showing the actual climatic statistics of the seasons, and also 
others of their indices, showing the relative order of the characters 
registered, comparing season with season. 
A little consideration will show that this branch of the subject 
is not less intricate than it is important ; and it can of necessity 
be but incidentally and incompletely treated of within the limits 
of such a paper as this. Thus, it is obvious that different seasons 
will differ almost infinitely at each succeeding period of their 
advance, and that, with each variation, the character of develop- 
ment of the plant will also vary, tending to luxuriance, or to 
maturation, that is, to quantity, or to quality, as the case may be. 
Hence, only a very detailed consideration of climatic statistics, 
taken together with careful periodic observations in the field, 
can afford a really clear perception of the connection between 
the ever fluctuating characters of season and the equally fluctuating 
