1184 MESSRS. J. B. LAWES, J. H. GILBERT, AND M. T. MASTERS, 
merit of the plants, that, to render the “Agricultural Results” sufficiently intelligible, 
and to prevent misconception, if the element of quantity only were taken into account, 
it was found necessary to describe, in general terms, the differences—in the botanical 
composition, in the character of development, and in some points in the chemical 
composition of the produce also. The object of the present section is to describe and 
discuss, more in detail, what may be called the botany of the plots —that is, to show 
both the normal botanical composition of the herbage, and the changes induced by the 
application of the different manuring agents, and by variation in the climatal condi¬ 
tions of the different seasons; and, as far as may be, to ascertain what are the special 
characters of growth, above-ground or under-ground, normal or induced, by virtue of 
which the various species have dominated, or have been dominated over, in the struggle 
which has ensued. 
The first season of the experiments was 1856. In that year 13 plots, in 1858 four 
others, in 1865 one, and in 1872 two more, were brought under experiment; thus 
making 20 in all. But, of these, two have been subdivided, so that the number may 
now be reckoned as 22. 
As already stated, even in the first years of the experiments it was observed that 
those manures which are the most effective with wheat, barley, or oats grown on 
arable land—that is with gramineous species grown separately—were also the most 
effective in bringing forward the grasses proper, in the mixed herbage. Again, those 
manures which were the most beneficial to beans or clover the most developed the 
leguminous species of the mixed herbage, and vice versd. It was further observed 
that there was great variation in the predominance of individual species among the 
grasses, and also among the representatives of other orders. 
Indeed, in the second year, 1857, the differences in the floras were so marked ' 
that a first attempt was then made to separate and determine the proportion of each 
separate species, in carefully averaged and weighed samples taken from several of the 
plots at the time the crops were cut; and, taking advantage of the experience thus 
gained, more careful separations were undertaken in the case of samples of the produce 
of seven of the most characteristically different plots in the third season, 1858. The 
results-relating to the produce of 1858 were published in Yol. xx. of the Journal of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England, in 1859. In these early trials, for the super¬ 
intendence of which we were indebted to the late Dr. Evan Pugh of Pennsylvania, 
the samples were separated into :— 
1. Gramineous herbage; stems bearing flower or seed. 
2. Gramineous herbage; detached leaves and indeterminate stems. 
3. Leguminous herbage. 
4. Miscellaneous herbage. 
In all, only 11 grasses, three leguminous plants, and nine plants of other orders, 
were then identified in the samples, though undoubtedly many more were present; 
