110 Report of Experiments on the Growth of Barley, 
(1857), tlicre Avas a, good deal of rain, and the greater part of 
the month was mild ; but it became colder, with frost and snow, 
at the end of the month and the beginning of February. The 
remainder of February, and March, were very dry, with high 
barometer, frequent sharp frosty nights, and cold easterly winds. 
April was more rainy, but included also some fine though cold 
weather. May was fine, with a good deal of very warm weather, 
and but little rain. In June, again, there was a good deal of fine and 
hot weathei" ; but there were also several thunderstorms, with heavy 
falls of rain, which were much needed, and thoroughly penetrated 
the soil. During July the weather Avas generally fine, and occa- 
sionally very hot, with much less than the usual amount of rain. 
In August there were several thunderstorms with heavy rain, 
but otherwise the weather was fine and remarkably hot. In the 
early part of September a great deal of rain fell, but the remain- 
der of the month was fine, and its temperature was pretty 
uniformly rather above the average. In June, July, and August, 
though the dew point ranged somewhat high, the temperature 
did so in a greater degree, so that the atmosphere was drier than 
usual. 
Thus, after a variable preliminary period, the beginning of 
the year was mild and wet ; in the spring there was, upon the 
whole, a good deal of cold dry weather, but there was a suffi- 
ciency of rain in April. The summer was for the most part hot, 
"with a dry atmosphere, but with genial and plentiful rains in 
June, and again in the beginning of August. Finally, the 
harvest period, though somewhat broken, was generally favour- 
able. 
The extent of land under wheat was reported to be less than 
in 1856 ; but with a summer hotter and drier than usual, though 
with occasional plentiful rains when most needed, the crop 
throughout promised exceedingly well ; and, after harvest, it was 
estimated to have been unusually productive. Barley was said 
to cover a large area, but to be generally deficient in yield per 
acre, though proportionally less so in the best corn-growing 
districts of the country. Oats were pronounced to be decidedly 
below their average productiveness. 
The experimental wheat crop, though by no means so bulky 
as many, was one of very much more than the average yield of 
grain per acre. 
The results obtained with barley are shown in Table \ II. 
(p. 111). 
The seed was sown on March 6th. On all the plots having 
superphosphate in the manure, the crops were ripe earlier than 
on the others, and were cut on August 3rd, the rest being left 
till August 10th. In April there was^a sufficiency of rain to 
