The  Wobum  Field  Experiments,  1909. 
363 
Unfortunately  this  fine  period  was  followed  by  one  of  almost 
continuous  rain  and  absence  of  sunshine.  Of  the  remaining 
fifteen  days  of  the  month  twelve  were  wet,  the  rainfall  reach- 
ing '77  in.  on  August  17  and  ‘31  in.  on  the  25th.  Matters  were 
but  little  improved  in  September,  and  when  at  length  the  corn 
crops  approached  a condition  something  like  ripeness,  the 
harvesting  of  them  was  a matter  of  much  difficulty.  A great 
deal  had  to  be  cut  by  hand,  and  every  opportunity  afforded 
by  a temporary  lull  in  the  adverse  conditions  had  to  be  taken 
advantage  of  to  secure  the  corn  crop  as  could  best  be  done. 
The  result  was  that  the  crop  could  only  be  stacked  in  inferior 
condition,  and  much  of  it  was  damaged  by  weather.  Con- 
sequent on  this,  the  grain  suffered  in  the  stack  greatly,  and  it 
took,  moreover,  long  to  get  it  even  fairly  dry  and  fit  to  be 
threshed.  The  harvesting  of  the  wheat  crop  was  not-  finished 
until  September  4,  and  that  of  the  barley  not  before  September 
21.  In  many  cases  the  sheaves  had  to  be  turned  over  in  the 
field  several  times  before  they  were  fit  to  cart  and  stack.  The 
result  was  shown  in  the  threshing,  which  could  not  be  begun 
until  December  21.  Even  then  the  corn  was  pot  properly  in 
order,  and  the  separation  of  the  corn  from  the  straw  was  a 
matter  of  considerable  difficulty,  so  that  the  results  recorded 
must  be  taken  with  some  allowance,  and  do  not  possess  the 
full  accuracy  attaching  to  those  hitherto  recorded.  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  such  an  untoward  season  for  harvesting  has 
not  been  experienced  in  the  history  of  the  experiments  since 
their  commencement.  The  effects  of  the  bad  season  were 
shown  very  markedly  in  the  valuation  of  the  corn  when 
this  was  done  in  January,  1910.  The  grain  was  in  many 
cases  heated  and  mouldy,  and  the  proportion  of  small  and 
“ tail  ” corn  was  very  high.  As  regards  the  influence  of 
manures,  the  most  striking  point  is  that  nitrate  of  soda 
showed  itself  by  increasing  the  quantity  of  straw  rather 
than  that  of  grain.  The  weights  of  straw,  however,  must  be 
taken  with  considerable  reserve,  owing  to  its  very  variable 
condition  in  regard  to  the  moisture  it  held. 
Continuous  Growing  of  Wheat  {Stackyard  Field), 
1909  (33rd  Season). 
This,  the  thirty-third  season  of  experimental  work,  was  the 
third  since  the  introduction  of  the  changes  made  at  the  close 
of  the  third  cycle  of  ten  years.  No  further  changes  were  made 
in  the  wheat  plots  with  the  exception  that  on  plot  2aa  the 
small  dressing  of  5 cwt.  per  acre  of  lime  was  repeated. 
After  the  usual  cleaning  and  ploughing  of  the  land,  farm- 
yard manure  was  applied  to  plot  11b  on  October  8,  1908,  and 
ploughed  in.  The  manure  had  been  made  during  the  previous 
