The Effect of Climate and Weather on the Soil. 21 
when it got as far down as 13^ bushels. But the Broadbalk 
plot which has never been green manured fluctuates to a much 
greater extent ; it has frequently dropped below 25 bushels, 
and in 1879 touched bottom at 4J bushels. The results are as 
follows : — 
Year 
Wheat grown after clover 
ploughed in 
(Agdell Field Plot) 
Complete artificial manure also 
supplied 
Wheat grown without any clover 
or other green manure ploughed in 
(Broadbalk Plot 16) 
Complete artificial manure 
Bushels of 
grain 
Crop when 
average crop =100 
Bushels of 
grain 
Crop when 
average =100 
1851 
30i 
87-8 
36f 
124-6 
1855 
39 
112-2 
321 
111-4 
1859 
39* 
1129 
34f 
117-4 
1863 
45| 
130-6 
55fr 
189-4 
1867 
22i 
64-7 
14f 
49-6 
1871 
24f 
71-2 
13* 
45-8 
1875 
31 
89-2 
101 
35-2 
1879 
13* 
38-8 
13 
-* 4 
16-1 
1883 
47f 
137-4 
16f 
53 4 
1887 
42| 
123-0 
39f 
134-3 
1891 
43* 
124-5 
411 
139-4 
1895 
39i 
113 7 
32f 
110-6 
1899 
42 i 
121-2 
37f 
126-7 
1903 
27f 
80-2 
261 
91-1 
1907 
29f 
84-5 
341 
117-4 
1911 
38 
1094 
40f 
136-9 
Averages 
34f 
29* 
A systematic investigation of green manuring is in hand at 
Rothamsted, and this particular side of the subject is under 
examination. But there must be other ways of getting round 
the bad effects of an adverse season on the soil which a careful 
study ought to reveal. The problem is one of first-rate 
importance, for, with city stable manure getting scarcer, with 
all outgoing expenses tending to rise, and no visible prospect of 
any increase in prices, it is necessary for the farmer to make 
his soil yield all it will and reduce to a minimum all wastes 
and losses. Fortunately the problem does not seem to be 
beyond hope, and it ought to be solved by a systematic 
investigation. 
E. J. Russell. 
Rothamsted Experimental Station, 
Harpenden. 
