Report on the Field and Feeding Experiments at fVoburn. 357 
Experiments on Oats in Warren Field. 
These experiments were instituted in 1880 to try the effects 
of soluble and finely-ground phosphatic fertilisers. The follow- 
ing course has been observed : — 1880, swedes ; 1881, barley ; 
1882, seeds ; 1883, oats. 
Oats, 1883.— The clover-crop of 1882 having failed, the 
ground was ploughed up for the first time on September 19th ; 
it was found very hard to get the twitch out, as it had in places 
gone down as much as 18 inches. It was dug out by follow- 
ing after the plough. The field was partly scuffled on Septem- 
ber 28th, and during the heavy wet weather of October the 
draining was very effective. On March 10th it was scuffled, and 
on April 10th oats were sown at the rate of eight pecks per acre. 
Hoeing was begun on May 8th, harrowing on the lOth, and 
horse-hoeing on the 25th. At this time the oats were grow- 
ing strongly and evenly. In June there were already great 
differences to be observed in the several plots ; the most striking 
was plot 11, to which chalk had been applied, then plot 8 (20 
tons dung), and after them plot 3 (Redonda phosphate). At 
my visit on August 3rd the chalk plot continued to look the 
best. The oats were cut on August 14th, carted and stacked on 
August 23rd and 24th, all in splendid condition. The crop was 
threshed, weighed, and measured on Nov. 22nd and 23rd, the 
produce of corn and straw being given in Table VI. (p. 358). 
The experiments were made in duplicate. 
In these experiments it was noticed once more that, just as 
with the previous swede crop in 1880, and barley crop in 1881, 
the soil of plots 1a and 7b was less productive than the rest 
of the field. The best results were obtained with Redonda 
phosphate, though the previous barley crop was nearly the 
smallest. As had been concluded from observation earlier in 
the season, the chalk plots (plots 11a and 11b) turned out 
extremely well, and the average of the straw-yield was higher 
on these than on any of the plots. The beneficial effect of chalk 
appears to indicate that the soil, which is naturally deficient in 
lime, needed an addition of lime to make it produce a good 
oat-crop. 
Altogether the difference between the several plots when the 
produce came to be weighed was found not to be much, and 
the results of plots 1 and 7 were rendered useless as a base of 
comparison, on account of the great differences between the 
duplicate portions of each, for the reasons given before. In 
every case of the manured plots the mean results came above 
that recorded for the unmanured, as had been observed already 
in the swede crop of 1880. 
