342 The Woburn Field Experiments , 1908. 
this year, at all events, it would have been better had later 
sowing taken place. 
Nitrogenous top-dressings were applied May 11-13 and 
June 4. As usual, the sulphate of ammonia plots (2’s and 5’s) 
presented interesting appearances, the need of lime and of 
renewal of it being more emphasised than in the case of the 
wheat. Thus there was practically no crop where 5 cwt. of 
lime per acre had been used with sulphate of ammonia, and 
the earlier dressing (in 1897) of 2 tons of lime per acre seemed 
(contrary to the similar plot in the wheat experiments) to be 
worked out, for the plot was much overgrown with spurry ; 
so also was plot f>b, which, until now, had been yielding 
extremely well. On the other hand, the renewal of lime (2 
tons per acre), on plot 2bb in 1905, gave a better crop, and it 
would seem clear that the barley crop, being a “ surface 
feeder,” feels more quickly the withdrawal of lime and the 
injurious effects of soil-acidity. These differences were, no 
doubt, increased by the unfavourable season. 
The plots looked, as a whole, very short, patchy, and poor 
throughout the time of growth, and never recovered from the 
poor start the barley had. When at length the time for cutting 
came (August 26) the weather was very bad for harvesting, 
rain fell day after day, and the sheaves had to be turned, 
opened out, and spread about before they could be stacked. 
The yield, under the above circumstances, was a very poor 
one, and the grain was practically spoiled as regards quality. 
The unmanured produce was 6 bushels per acre only against 
an average of 12^ bushels for the past ten years. The highest 
yield was with farmyard manure, viz., 24'4 bushels, and 
minerals and nitrate of soda (plot 9a), as in the case of wheat, 
gave the best crop of those treated with artificial manures. 
Nitrate of soda alone produced 14 - 4 bushels when 1 cwt. per 
acre was used, and 18T bushels with 2 cwt. per acre. The 
influence of potash (plot 11a) as compared with phosphates 
(plot 10a) was not as marked as in the previous year. 
Rape dust, as with the wheat, gave a crop much inferior to 
that with farmyard manure. The appearances noted at the 
time of growth in the case of the sulphate of ammonia plots, 
with and without lime, were borne out in the harvest results, 
these all being poor, or no crop at all ; the 1 ton per acre of 
lime, last put on in 1905, gave the highest yield of this series. 
It would seem probable that there is need of renewing the 
lime on several of the plots. 
The full harvest results are given in Table II., page 341. 
The different samples of corn were also valued, but the 
barley was so “weathered” that none of it could be considered 
as fit for anything but grinding. 
