364  The  Wohurn  Field  Experiments,  1909. 
winter  by  cattle  in  the  feeding  boxes,  and,  after  being  analysed, 
sufiBcient  was  applied  to  give  ilOO  lb.  of  ammonia  per  acre. 
On  October  15,  9 pecks  per  acre  of  “ Street’s  Imperial  ” wheat, 
which  had  been  obtained  from  Drifl&eld,  Yorks.,  were  drilled, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  mineral  manures  were  given  to  the 
plots  to  receive  them  (plots  4,  5,  6,  8,  9,  10a).  The  wheat  was 
well  up  by  November  5.  On  plot  2a  there  was,  however,  no 
sign  of  a crop  by  the  end  of  the  month,  and  very  little  on  2aa, 
8a,  or  8b.  Plot  5a  also  seemed  to  be  failing,  while,  in  striking 
contrast,  plots  2b,  2bb,  5b,  8aa,  8bb,  to  which  lime  had  been 
applied  in  earlier  years,  showed  up  well.  Even  plot  2aa,  which 
had  only  5 cwt.  per  acre  of  lime,  showed  some  signs  of  a crop. 
The  limed  plots,  as  before,  were  marked  by  the  comparative 
absence  of  spurry,  while,  wherever  sulphate  of  ammonia  had 
been  used  without  lime,  spurry  was  very  abundant.  Frost  and 
snow  came  at  the  close  of  the  year  and  the  weak  plots  got 
even  worse.  On  the  other  hand,  the  farmyard  manure  plot  looked 
best  of  all,  and  the  heavier  dressing  of  lime  on  plot  2bb  seemed 
to  be  telling.  On  the  plots  dressed  with  nitrate  of  soda  only 
(3a,  3b),  the  wheat  did  not  tiller  out  well,  and  contrasted  badly 
with  plots  6 and  9 where  minerals  also  had  been  used.  Frost  and 
snow  came  again  at  the  end  of  February,  1909,  followed  by  rain 
and  cold  wet  weather  generally  in  March,  so  that  the  land  was 
very  wet  when  April  came  in.  Rape  dust  (nearly  4 cwt.  per 
acre)  was  spread  on  plot  10b  on  March  5,  and  also  sulphate 
of  potash  put  on  plot  11a.  On  April  15  the  first  half-dressings 
of  nitrogenous  salts  were  given,  and  the  remainder  on  May  12. 
Plot  5b  then  presented  a striking  contrast  to  plot  5a,  while 
plots  8aa  and  8bb  were  a great  improvement  on  the  almost  bare 
plots  8a,  8b.  The  wheat  came  into  bloom  by  June  28,  and  at 
this  time  the  farmyard  manure  plot  (11b)  was  decidedly  the 
best,  the  rape  dust  plot  (10b)  not  looking  so  well.  There  was 
little  to  choose  between  lOa  and  11a.  The  absence  of  sun  and 
warmth,  which  was  so  characteristic  of  the  summer  of  1909, 
told  greatly  against  the  proper  ripening  of  the  crop,  and  the 
wheat  was  much  damaged  by  storms  of  wind  and  rain  ; weeds 
also  asserted  themselves  very  strongly.  The  cutting  of  the 
plots  began  on  August  20,  but,  owing  to  bad  weather  during  the 
harvesting,  the  carting  and  stacking  could  not  be  done  until 
September  4.  Even  then,  as  stated,  the  crops  were  not  properly 
dry,  and  it  was  not  until  December  21  that  a beginning  could 
be  made  with  the  threshing,  and  this  was  attended  with 
difficulty  owing  to  the  damp  state  of  the  straw.  The  produce 
is  given  in  Table  I.,  page  366. 
On  the  whole,  the  yield  was  better  than  the  very  un- 
favourable season  seemed  likely  to  give,  it  not  falling 
materially  below  the  average  of  the  third  cycle  of  ten  years 
