Improvement  of  Old  Pasture. 
329 
grasses,  and  there  are  patches  of  gorse,  thorn,  bramble,  &c. 
The  soil  differs  from  that  of  England’s  Gate,  No.  13  (near  by)  in 
being  much  thinner  and  in  having  much  less  lime  (0'36  per 
cent.);  also  in  being  poorer  in  phosphoric  acid  (0'12  per  cent.). 
Salt  (5  cwt.  per  acre),  dissolved  bones  (4  cwt.  per  acre),  basic 
slag  (8  cwt.  per  acre),  and  lime  (4  tons  per  acre)  were  tried  here. 
The  field,  as  a whole,  has  somewhat  improved  and  keeps  more 
stock,  but  the  manurial  applications  have  not  done  much  good. 
Salt,  lime,  and  bone  meal  have  been  ineffectual ; and  while 
dissolved  bones  and  basic  slag  both  seemed  to  benefit  the  pasture 
at  one  time,  the  influence  has  now  been  worked  out.  This  field 
suffered  very  badly  from  drought  in  the  years  1896-1899,  and 
this  perhaps  prevented  the  manures  from  having  their  proper 
effect,  especially  as  on  other,  but  wetter,  soils  in  the  neighbour- 
hood basic  slag  has  been  applied  with  much  success. 
County  Locality  Formation 
21.  Cambridgeshire  Wilburton  (Crow’s  Farm)  Gault 
This  field  was  one  bearing  a miserable  stunted  pasture  with 
much  moss.  The  soil  is  a stiff  cold  clay,  water-logged  in  winter 
and  getting  hard  and  cracked  in  summer.  By  analysis  it  was 
shown  to  have  plenty  of  lime  (1‘33  per  cent.)  and  of  potash 
(0’66  per  cent.),  but  to  be  deficient  (0'09  per  cent.)  in  phos- 
phoric acid.  On  account  of  its  impenetrable  nature  it  was 
attempted  to  improve  this  by  using  an  “ aerating  plough  ” of 
French  design,  but  this,  as  well  as  harrowing  and  re-seeding, 
has  not  been  followed  with  any  success.  The  manurial  appli- 
cations made  were  : lime,  4 tons  per  acre ; basic  slag,  8 cwt. 
per  acre ; basic  slag,  6 cwt.,  with  kainit,  3 cwt.  per  acre ; and 
mineral  superphosphate,  3 cwt.,  kainit,  2 cwt.,  and  nitrate  of 
soda,  1 cwt.  per  acre. 
At  first  the  superphosphate,  kainit,  and  nitrate  of  soda  plot 
showed  much  the  best,  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  nitrate  of  soda ; 
but  this  speedily  went  down,  and  the  plot  is  now  hardly  better 
than  the  unmanured  one.  Lime  has  made  the  pasture  sweeter, 
but  evidently  needs  to  be  followed  up  by  other  manure.  The 
result  from  basic  slag,  6 cwt.,  and  kainit,  3 cwt.,  per  acre,  is 
not  nearly  equal  to  that  from  the  use  of  8 cwt.  per  acre  of 
basic  slag,  and  it  is  clear  that  the  larger  dressing  is  needed, 
for  where  that  has  been  given  a real  improvement  has  been 
effected.  Basic  slag  has  had  the  result  of  covering  the  land 
with  clover,  principally  white  clover.  The  grasses  that  are 
there  are  good  enough,  viz.,  rye  grass,  cocksfoot,  and  fescues, 
but  these  are  at  best  rather  stunted.  Yorkshire  fog  and 
twitch,  however,  have  largely  disappeared.  With  the  appli- 
cation of  lime  the  herbage  is  not  much  altered,  but  the  soil  is 
certainly  improved,  being  moi*e  opened  out  and  looser,  and,  if 
followed  up  by  manure,  it  would  probably  show  a good  result. 
