368  The  Woburn  Field  Experiments,  1909. 
of  the  corn,  however,  being  generally  good  for  the  season, 
rather  higher  values  were  attached  to  it  than  would  otherwise 
have  been  the  case.  On  a basis  of  34s.  6c?.  per  quarter  of 
504  lb.  weight,  the  best  plots  were  those  where  sulphate  of 
ammonia  had  been  used  along  with  minerals  and  lime,  or 
which  had  been  unmanured,  or  else  treated  with  minerals 
only  ; after  these  came  the  rape  dust  plot.  The  nitrate  of 
soda  plots  were  markedly  inferior,  and  the  wheat  from  some 
of  them  would  not  have  been  taken  at  all  by  millers.  The 
farmyard  manure  lot  had  so  much  sprouted  corn  that  it  lost  in 
value,  otheryrise  it  would  have  stood  higher  in  the  scale. 
Continuous  Growing  of  Barley  {Stackyard  Field), 
1909  (33rd  Season). 
In  these,  as  in  the  wheat  experiments  just  recorded,  the 
only  change  of  plan  was  the  repetition  of  5 cwt.  per  acre  of 
lime  upon  plot  2aa.  The  first  ploughing  of  the  land  was  done 
in  October,  1908,  and  the  second  on  March  19-23, 1909.  Spurry 
was  very  abundant  on  many  of  the  plots  throughout  the  winter, 
notably  on  plots  2a,  2aa,  5a,  8a,  and  8b  ; there  was  less  on  2b, 
still  less  on  2bb,  and  hardly  any  on  5aa,  8aa,  and  8bb,  these 
being  limed  plots.  Farmyard  manure,  made  by  bullocks  in 
the  feeding  boxes,  was  spread  on  plot  11b  on  March  18,  1909, 
supplying  (as  ascertained  by  analysis)  100  lb.  per  acre  of 
ammonia.  On  April  12,  after  ploughing  and  harrowing  of  the 
land,  9 pecks  per  acre  of  “ Goldthorpe  ” barley  were  drilled, 
and  mineral  manures  were  applied  on  April  14  to  plots  4,  5,  6, 
8,  9,  10a,  and  11a.  On  the  same  day  rape  dust  was  spread  on 
plot  10b. 
The  barley  came  up  by  April  28,  and  seemed  stronger  than 
usual.  On  May  12  the  first  half-dressings  of  the  nitrogenous 
salts  were  given  to  plots  3a,  8a,  8aa,  and  9a,  the  second  halves 
going  on  on  May  20,  together  with  the  single  dressings  for 
plots  2a,  2aa,  2b,  2bb,  3b, '5a,  5aa,  5b,  6,- 10a,  and  11a. 
As  in  the  case  of  the  wheat,  the  farmyard  manure  plot  (11b) 
looked  much  the  best,  and  then  came  10b  (rape  dust).  Plots 
2a,  2aa,  5a,  8a,  and  8b  were  almost  blank,  and  plot  2b  (lime 
last  applied  in  1897)  was  evidently  failing  fast,  for  plot  2bb 
(lime  repeated  in  1905)  looked  quite  well  and  spurry  was 
almost  entirely  absent.  Plot  5b  was  showing  a good  deal  of 
spurry,  and  it  is  clear,  from  the  appearance  of  plots  2b  and  5b, 
as  compared  with  plots  2bb  and  5aa,  that  the  2 tons  per  acre 
of  lime  applied  in  1897  are  getting  nearly  “ worked  out.”  A 
characteristic  of  all  the  plots  was  the  shortness  of  the  straw. 
The  sunless  summer,  with  much  rain,  did  not  help  to  ripen 
the  barley  nicely,  and  even  the  fine  fortnight  in  August  was  not 
sufficient,  so  that  it  was  not  until  September  14  that  the  crop 
