I 
276 Hejjori on the Field and Feeding Exjjeriments at Wohiirn. 
and there was a good plant throughout the season. The farm- ' 
yard manure for the dunged plots 10b and 11b was made by 
four Hereford bullocks which were put in the pits and fed for 21 
days, November 22 to December 13. During this period they I 
consumed : — decorticated cotton-cake, 2 cwt, 2 qrs. ; maize- 
meal, 4 cwt. ; white turnips, 30 cwt. ; wheat-straw chaff, 5 cwt. ; 
and they were supplied with 12 cwt. of wheat-straw as litter. ' 
The dung after being made was removed from the pits and j 
kept under cover until February 11, 1887, when it was found to ; 
weigh 24 cwt. 1 qr. 26 lbs. On the same day plots 10b and 11b 
were dressed with the dung in quantity to supply per acre 
respectively 100 lbs. and 200 lbs. of ammonia. 
Throughout January there was continued frost, but the j 
wheat did not appear to suffer at all. The cold weather, accom- 
panied with snow at intervals, continued throughout February, ' 
right on to March 21, when it broke. The plots were harrowed j 
on March 28 ; transplanting was done on April 1, hoeing on 
April 13, followed by horse-hoeing. The nitrogenous top- 
dressings of ammonia-salts and nitrate of soda were sown on | 
plots 2, 3, 5, 6, 8a, and 9a, on April 29. Eain fell on May 2, 3, j 
and 4, and washed the manures in well. By May 7 the weather i 
had turned warm, and the top-dressings of nitrate of soda had 
already by that time begun to tell. The effects of the ammonia- I 
salts were also \-isible by May 9. On May 12, the plots were | 
hoed the second time. The plots on which nitrate of soda had 
been put appeared throughout stronger than those dressed with 
ammonia-salts, the more ready solubility of the former telling 
in the dry season. The wheat grew well, and, during the ] 
long drought which succeeded the rain of June 3 and con- 
tinued till after harvest, it did not appear to suffer much, form- i 
ing a striking contrast to the shallower-rooted barley. It has j 
before been remarked that the soil of Stackyard Field, though 
so light in character, is well adapted for suffering extremes both 
of wet and drought ; its open character, especially with a plant 
like wheat, enabling the rootlets to find their way readily to the 
lower and moister levels of the subsoil. Plot 9a (heavy di'essing 
of nitrate of soda) was a big crop and went down somewhat, 
appearing too much for an ordinary season. Plot 6 (smaller 
dressing of nitrate of soda) on the contrary stood up well, as did 
plot 5 (smaller dressing of ammonia-salts). Towards harvest it 
was noticeable that the plots 2 and 5 (ammonia-salts) ripened 
some considerable time before the corresponding nitrate of soda 
plots. Plot 3 (nitrate of soda alone), like 9a, went down 
somewhat. 
On August 5, after close examination of the wheat plots, i 
puparia of the Hessian fly were found on some of them ; other j 
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