Continuous  Growing  of  Wheat. 
289 
November  10.  From  the  beginning,  plot  2a  (ammonia  salts 
only)  looked  very  sickly,  and  the  other  ammonia  salts  plots 
(5,  8a,  and  8b)  had  a poor  colour  and  a bad  general  appearance. 
Farmyard  manure,  made  as  usual  in  boxes,  was  put  on  plot 
lib,  and  rape  dust  on  plot  10b,  both  on  February  13,  1903. 
Frosts  occurred  about  the  middle  of  April  and  affected  the 
plant  to  some  extent.  At  that  time  all  the  plots  looked  well 
except  the  ammonia  salts  ones,  though  even  on  these  the 
addition  of  lime  (2b)  had  caused  a marked  improvement.  The 
nitrogenous  top-dressings  were  applied  as  usual,  the  heavier 
dressings  in  two  lots,  April  29  and  May  15,  the  lighter  ones  on 
May  15  only.  A great  deal  of  rain  fell  in  May,  and  indeed 
throughout  the  season,  this  being  one  of  the  wettest  on  record. 
Under  these  circumstances  ripening  was  very  uneven  and 
harvesting  greatly  delayed.  Cutting  began  on  August  19,  but 
was  continuously  interrupted,  ami  it  w'as  not  until  September  7 
that  the  produce  could  be  all  carted  and  stacked.  The  plots 
were  very  free  from  “smut”  and  “rust.”  The  crop  returns 
and  valuation  are  given  in  Table  L,  page  290. 
The  crop  generally  was  considerably  below  the  average, 
though  not  as  bad  as  that  of  1901,  either  as  regards  corn  or 
straw.  Notwithstanding  the  wet  season,  the  straw  with  one 
exception  (plot  9a)  was  shoi't.  The  unmanured  produce  was 
9*5  bushels  of  corn  with  10  cwt.  of  straw.  Nitrate  of  soda 
alone  increased  the  yield  to  IG  bushels,  and  this  was  practically 
the  same  yield  as  obtained  with  the  same  amount  of  nitrogen 
in  the  form  of  ammonia  salts  when  lime  had  been  previously 
applied.  As  in  late  years,  ammonia  salts  without  lime  showed 
that  the  land  had  been  rendered  “sour,”  and  while  thei-e  was 
an  increase  of  crop  on  this  plot  as  compared  with  the  crops  of 
1902  and  1901,  no  doubt  this  was  due  in  great  measure  to  the 
heavier  rainfall  and  consecjnent  washing  of  the  land.  Between 
nitrate  of  soda  and  ammonia  salts  when  given  in  moderate 
amounts  with  mineral  manures  there  w'as  only  about  one 
bushel  difference,  tb.e  wet  season  probably  favouring  the  use  of 
ammonia  salts.  But  when  the  nitrogenous  salts  were  used 
in  larger  amount  (plots  8a  and  9a)  the  bad  effect  produced  by 
ammonia  salts,  and  noted  in  the  two  previous  years,  was  appa- 
rent, and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  this  plot  will  require 
liming.  On  the  other  hand,  nitrate  of  soda  in  heavy  dressing, 
together  with  minerals,  produced  the  highest  crop  of  the  season, 
viz.,  31T  bushels.  The  next  best  produce  was  that  of  rape 
cake  (10b),  it  exceeding  the  farmyard  manure  plot  (11b)  by 
3 bushels  and  also  giving  more  straw.  In  a wet  year  like  the 
one  under  review,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  value  of 
organic  materials  like  rape  dust  and  farmyard  manure  would 
tell  as  much  as  in  a dry  season. 
VOL.  C5. 
U 
