m Permanent Meadow Land. 
519 
growth, containing a lower percentage of dry matter. Accord- 
ingly, tlie relative proportions of dry matter in the produce of 
one plot compared with that of another are seen to vary more or 
less from season to season. Still the general, though not the in- 
variable, result is found to be that, in comparable cases, the larger 
the relative supply of available mineral constituents, the higher 
will be the percentage of dry matter in the produce at the time 
of cutting, due mainly to the greater tendency to ripen under 
such conditions. The columns showing the average percentage 
of dry matter in the produce of each plot over the four and over 
the seven years afford sufficient illustration on this point. 
The general result in regard to the proportion of dry matter 
in the hav is, that variation of season has very much more in- 
fluence than variation in manure in one and the same season ; 
that, so far as manures have an influence, those which tend 
most to stemmy produce, and to ripeness, generally give the 
highest proportion of dry substance ; that a relatively liberal 
supply of mineral manure favours this tendency ; and, that the 
greater the excess of nitrogenous manure (provided the supply 
of mineral constituents be not insufficient for luxuriant growth), 
the lower, other things being equal, will be the proportion of 
dry matter in the produce. 
Percentage of Mineral Matter (^Ash) in the Hay. 
Table IV. (p. 533) shows the percentages of mineral residue 
obtained on burning the dry substance to ash, and the results 
approximately represent the relative proportions of mineral 
constituents. The left division gives the percentages in the hay 
as taken from the land, and the right those in the dry substance 
of the hay. The latter of course give the best view of the 
relations of the mineral to the other solid constituents of the 
produce. 
Comparing season with season, there were much lower propor- 
tions of mineral matter in the dry substance of the riper and 
drier produce of 1S59 and 1861, than in that of the more 
backward and moister produce of 18(50 and 1862 ; and, of the 
four seasons, the produce of 1862, which yielded the lowest pro- 
portion of dry substance, shows generally, but not invariably, 
the highest proportion of mineral matter in that dry substance. 
Comparing plot with plot, the percentage of mineral matter 
in the dry substance of the hay has a very obvious connexion 
with the conditions and characters of growth. 
The general result in regard to the proportion of mineral 
matter in the dry substance of the hav may be stated to be, that 
it was the higher the more liberal the relative supply of mineral 
constituents in the manure, the less Graminaceous, or the less 
