134 
Effects of different Manures on the 
it was sought to determine the species to wliich tlie detached 
leaves and imperfect stems belonged, and so to include in the 
amount given for each grass, as far as possible its total vield, 
whether in culm bearing flower and seed, or in a less definite 
condition. The classification of the Graminaceous herbage will, 
therefore, on the present occasion, be somewhat different : and 
hence the present and the former results will not be strictly 
comparable. 
It will be obvious that to conduct the work on the plan just 
indicated, not only involved an immense amount of labour, but 
required very considerable technical knowledge and experience 
in those superintending the separations. Accordinslv, we applied 
to several botanical friends for a competent botanical assistant ; 
and we have now to express our best thanks to Dr. J. D. Hooker, 
of Kew, for recomraendinsT to us ^Ir. ^^ . Sutherland, a young' 
man who, as foreman of the " Hardy Herbaceous ground " in 
the Kew Gardens, had had, to use Dr. Hooker's words, " the 
charge of a most extensive named collection of herbaceous plants 
(some 4-5000;, including a good collection of grasses." W e 
have also much satisfaction in bearing testimonv to the com- 
petencv of Mr. Sutherland for the work he undertook, and to the 
conscientious and assiduous manner in which he has performed 
his tedious and difficult task. 
The mode of taking the samples for the botanical separations 
was as follows : eight or ten mowers were put upon the half-acre 
exjjerimental plot, and small quantities of grass were taken 
immediately after the scvthe from each swathe, until nearly the 
whole of the plot was down. The quantities so taken, amounting 
to very many times more than the required sample, were then 
carefullv mixed on a cloth, so as to shake out as little seed as 
possible, and from the bulk a sample of 10 lbs. was immediately 
weighed, l>efore anv material change in the condition of the 
grass could take place by evaporation. 
The samples taken as above described were spread out to dry 
at the ordinarv temperature, and afterwards carefully preserved 
for future operation. 
In all, twenty- samples have been submitted to botanical 
analvsis; occupving ^Ir. Sutherland for alxjut four months, and 
another assistant, and from three to half a dozen boys, for a 
period of nearly six months. 
The plan adopted in the first instance was to work down each 
sample to the point of something- like equal difficulty of further 
separation. The remaining undetermined residue was then put 
into a sieve, and the larger stemmy and leafv portions were thus 
separated from the shedded flowers and seeds, and finely broken 
leafv matter. The mass of the latter was then separated, by 
