for Twenty Years in succession on the same Land. 131 
the results In the experimental fields varied greatly according to 
the conditions of manuring ; the crops suffering most where the 
conditions of manuring were the most defective, whilst it was 
on the light and badly farmed lands that the crops of the country 
suffered most. On the other hand, it was under the influence of 
liberal manuring that the quantity of corn was proportionally 
the highest in the experimental fields, and it was on the clays, 
and better farmed lands, that the crops were good in the country 
generally. 
Fifteenth Season, 1866, 
The very warm and dry weather of September, 1865, extended 
through the first week of October ; and, although there were a 
few cold intervals, the temperatures of the three concluding 
months of the year ruled higher than the average ; December, 
especially, being unusually warm. The period included, how- 
ever, very great fluctuations in barometric pressure, and some 
extremely severe storms of wind ; whilst in October a very 
excessive, in November a full, but in December a deficient, 
amount of rain fell. January and the first half of February 
(1866) were also unusually warm, though in January there 
was a heavy fall of snow, which, however, rapidly thawed, and 
the whole period was very wet, A cold and drier period then 
set in, and extended to the middle of March, checking the 
hitherto much too forward vegetation ; and then, to the end of the 
quarter, the temperatures, though variable, ruled, upon the whole, 
very high, and there was a full amount of rain. The beginning 
of April was cold and rather wet, and the remainder con- 
siderably warmer and drier than the average. May was, 
throughout, unusually cold both day and night, and there was 
a deficiency of rain. June was changeable, but included a good 
deal of hot weather, Avhich raised the mean temperature above 
the average, and during the month a considerable excess of rain 
fell. The beginning of July was cold and wet; then followed a 
week of hot and dry weather; but, from about the middle of the 
month to nearly the end of September, the weather was, with 
the exception of few and short intervals, generally cold, with a 
good deal of rain and wind in August, and an almost continuous 
and considerably excessive fall in September, October was, 
however, upon the whole, warmer and drier than usual. In 
June, July, August, September, and October, the degree of 
humidity of the air was generally high. 
Thus, after a very wet and comparatively warm autumn, the 
winter was, until the middle of February, unusually warm, with 
a great deal of rain, inducing premature luxuriance of grass and 
winter-sown crops ; then came a month of cold and drv weather, 
K 2 
