EXPERIMENTS OX THE MIXED HERBAGE OF PERMANENT MEADOW. 295 
ment. One plot (l) received farmyard manure, with the addition of some ammonia- 
salts, for eight years in succession, since which time the application of the dung has been 
discontinued, and the ammonia-salts alone have been annually applied. One plot (2) 
received farmyard manure alone, each year, for eight years, and has since been left 
unmanured. The remaining plots have received, respectively, different descriptions or 
combinations of artificial or chemical manuring substances ; the same, with some special 
exceptions, being applied year after year on the same plot. The most convenient 
forms in which the different constituents are supplied in commerce were selected. 
Thus, the different “ mineral ” * or ash-constituents were supplied in the substances 
designated in commerce as follows :— 
Potass —as sulphate of potass (and in nitrate of potass). 
Soda— as sulphate of soda (and in nitrate of soda). 
Magnesia —as sulphate of magnesia. 
Lime —as sulphate, phosphate, and “ superphosphate.” 
Phosphoric acid —as bone ash, mixed with sulphuric acid in quantity sufficient to 
convert most of the insoluble phosphate of lime into sulphate and soluble 
“ superphosphate ” of lime. 
Sulphuric acid —in the above phosphatic mixture, in sulphates of potass, soda, 
and magnesia, and in sulphate of ammonia. 
Chlorine —in “ muriate of ammonia.” 
Silica —as silicate of soda and silicate of lime (also in cut wheat straw). 
Other constituents have been artificially supplied as under :— 
Nitrogen —as sulphate of ammonia, as “ muriate of ammonia,” and as nitrate of 
soda. 
Non-nitrogenous organic matter, yielding, by decomposition, carbonic acid and 
other products —in sawdust, and in cut wheat straw. 
The artificial manures were mixed with ashes (burnt soil and turf) in quantity 
sufficient to make up a convenient measure for equal distribution over the land, and 
the mixtures so prepared were sown broadcast by hand, as it has been found that the 
application of an exact amount of manure over a limited area of land can be best 
accomplished in that way. 
During the first 19 years, the first crop only, each year, was mown, made into hay, 
removed from the land, and weighed ; but in the twentieth season, 1875, a second 
crop was removed and weighed. As a rule, the second crop was fed off by sheep having 
no other food, the object being not to disturb the condition of the manuring. A given 
number was allotted to each plot, according to the amount of produce, and penned upon 
* With regard to the use of the term “mineral,” see ‘Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
England,’ vol. xxiv., pp. 506-8 (foot-note) ; vol. xxv., p. 101 (and context) ; also vol. xvi., pp. 447-8 (and 
context). 
