JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
OF ENGLAND. 
I. — The Permanent Wheat and Barley Experiments in Stackyard j 
Meld, Woburn. By Sir John Lawes, Bart., Rothamsted, , 
St. Albans. 
The permanent wheat and barley experiments in Stackyard | 
Field, Woburn, were commenced in the year 1877, and as the j 
results up to 1886 have already been published in the ' Journal ■ 
of the Royal Agricultural Society,' it appears desirable that some 
general review of these results should be drawn up. | 
The influence of climate upon our crops is so vast, and j 
the fluctuation in the seasons so great, that any conclusion \ 
drawn from the produce of one or two years is very apt to be ' 
misleading. Although the average climate of any ten years is 
not necessarily the exact counterpart of the preceding or suc- 
ceeding ten years, still we may safely make use of the figures 
obtained from a ten years' average, to bring out several very 
important agricultural facts, provided that the original arrange- 
ment of the experiments has not been subject to any serious 
alterations. 
With regard to the experiments in Stackyard Field, the 
original plan for carrying them out was well adapted to elicit 
information respecting the action of manures upon both wheat 
and barley ; also to throw some light upon the store of fertility 
existing in the soil. This plan has been carried out either 
without change, or, where any change has been made, the result 
has been to bring out some very interesting facts. In the 
following table will be found a summary of the results of the 
continuous growth of wheat and barley for ten years, 1877-1886. i 
It also gives the highest and lowest yield in any one year ; the ■ 
mean of the highest and lowest years ; the general mean of ten 
years ; the weight per bushel of dressed corn ; and the weight 
of straw : — I 
VOL. xxrv. — S. S. B 
i 
