Report of Experiments on the Growth of Wheat. 115 
the result of 1849, 500 lbs. of ammonia-salts (with mineral 
manure) gave scarcely as much grain as 400 lbs., but considerably 
more straw than the latter. 
Upon the whole, the experimental crop was probably not so 
far inferior to the average as the wheat-crop of the country was 
generally estimated to be ; but under the influence of the cold 
and unsettled summer the tendency of high manuring was to 
give a deficient amount of grain, and an excessive proportion of 
straw. 
Eighth Season, 1850-1. 
October (1850) was very fine, but very cold ; November, 
December, and January (1851) were, upon the whole, fine and 
mild. February was generally fine, but cold. March was, for 
the most part, wet, cold, and windy. In April there was a 
good deal of rain, and the temperatures were low during the 
first half of the month. May and the greater part of June were 
dry, but unseasonably cold ; July was also colder than usual, and 
during the month a good deal of rain fell heavily at intervals. 
August was very fine until nearly the end of the month, when 
heavy rain fell. September was fine throughout, but with rather 
low temperatures. In June, July, August, and September, the 
dew-point ranged low, but in August less, and in September more 
so, than in the other months ; the degree of humidity of the air 
also was, in each of these months, below the average — less so in 
June and July than in August, and considerably less in August 
than in September. 
Upon the whole, therefore, the winter was mild, the spring and 
a great part of the summer were cold and unsettled, but the 
ripening and harvest periods, though cold, were, upon the whole, 
fine and dry. The wheat-crop of the country was considered 
to be decidedly above that of 1850, both in quantity and quality, 
but inferior to that of 1849, especially in quantity. 
In the experimental field the allotment of manui'es was much 
the same as in several preceding seasons ; the chief alteration being 
that in a few cases the amounts of ammonia-salts and of rape- 
cake were increased. In one instance in this season (Plot 16a), 
as also in the two succeeding seasons, common salt was employed, 
for the results of which the reader is referred to the Appendix 
Tables VIII., IX., X., and XI., pp. 160-5. 
Under the influence of the prevailing cold and ungenial grow- 
ing period of 1851, the amounts of gross produce, corn and straw 
together, were, under like conditions of manuring, not very dif- 
ferent from those of 1850 and 1849 ; but the proportion of corn 
to straw was somewhat higher than in 1850, though in a greater 
degree lower than in 1849. Indeed, the results in the experi- 
i 2 
