224  Report  on  the  Field  and  Feeding  Experiments  at  Woburn. 
to  the  10b  and  11b  plots  both  for  wheat  and  barley,  and 
withheld  from  the  corresponding  A plots,  which  course  it  is 
hoped  will  throw  some  light  on  the  unexhausted  manurial 
properties  of  the  dung  which  has  been  applied  annually  for 
each  of  the  five  previous  wheat-  and  barley-crops. 
In  concluding  this  portion  of  my  Report,  I would  also  observe 
that  whilst  last  season  the  artificial  manures  had  a better  effect 
upon  the  barley  than  the  dung,  the  latter  increased  the  produce 
of  1881  to  a greater  extent  than  in  1882. 
The  Experiments  in  Rotation. 
Rotation  No.  1. — 1877,  seeds  ; 1878,  wheat ; 1879,  mangolds  ; 
1880,  barley  ; 1881,  seeds. 
Wheat,  1882. — The  seeds  (white  Dutch  clover)  were  fed-off 
by  sheep,  which  were  taken  off  the  land  on  the  7th  of  October. 
The  land  was  ploughed  up  at  once,  and  got  ready  for  the  wheat 
(Browick  wheat),  which  was  drilled  in  on  the  23rd  of  October 
at  the  rate  of  8 pecks  per  acre  on  all  the  four  acres  under 
experiment.  The  mineral  manures  required  for  plots  3 and  4 
were  applied  on  January  28th,  and  the  top-dressings  of  nitrate 
of  soda  were  sown  on  these  plots  on  the  25th  of  April. 
The  wheat  germinated  well,  and  in  about  a fortnight  after 
sowing  appeared  above  ground,  and  grew  well  throughout  the 
winter  and  the  early  part  of  the  spring. 
Towards  the  middle  of  June  it  came  into  ear,  and  promised  to 
yield  a heavy  crop  on  all  the  four  acres.  At  that  time  the  wheat 
on  plot  3,  top-dressed  with  nitrate  of  soda,  looked  stronger 
and  more  luxuriant  than  that  on  the  remaining  three  acres. 
Unfortunately,  want  of  sunshine  and  excess  of  rain  during  the 
summer  months  sadly  interfered  with  the  ripening  of  the 
wheat-crop. 
The  wheat  on  the  four  acres  in  Rotation  was  cut  on  the 
14th  of  August,  carted  and  stacked  on  the  22nd  of  August, 
1882,  and  threshed  out  in  the  field  on  the  25th  of  October. 
The  straw  was  weighed  in  the  field  at  the  time  of  threshing, 
and  the  corn  was  kept  in  the  granary  in  properly  labelled 
bags  until  the  2nd  of  November,  when  it  was  hand-winnowed, 
weighed,  and  measured. 
Table  III.  shows  the  produce  of  each  of  the  four  acres  under 
experiment. 
The  quality  of  the  Rotation  wheat  was  rather  better  on  plot  1 
(seeds  -fed-off  by  sheep,  which  consumed  decorticated  cotton- 
cake)  and  on  plot  2 (seeds  fed-off  by  sheep,  having  maize- 
meal  as  additional  food)  than  on  plots  3 and  4,  top-dressed  in 
spring  with  nitrate  of  soda. 
