MANURING EXPERIMENTS WITH PADDY RICE (SECOND YEAR). 
37 
Temperature of the 
water observed at 
8.30 a. m. 
A 
Temperature of the air 
in the corresponding 
24 hours. 
A 
incoming 
effluent 
minimum. maximum. 
water. 
water. 
From the 22nd of June 
to the 3rd of July ...23.1 °C. 
28.3 °C.I 
6.7 °c. 
26.7 °c 
From the 13th to the 
24th of July.23.9 ,, 
28.6 „ 
20.4 „ 
29.8 „ 
From the 8th to the 
23rd of August ...22.0 ,, 
23-3 ». 
19-5 »» 
30.0 „ 
It is evident that in water of so high a temperature the 
decomposition of organic substances must be very vigorous. 
Yet the process is accomplished slowly enough to ensure a 
pretty complete absorption of the ammonia thus originated, 
by the soil and a constant supply of assimilable food to the 
plants. On those plots where ammoniacal compounds were 
applied as such, some of the ammonia seems to have been 
washed away by the irrigation or to have escaped into the air, 
in spite of the very high absorptive power our soil has for 
ammonia ; otherwise the effect of these fertilizers (night-soil 
and ammonium sulphate) would not have been inferior to that 
of organic fertilizers. Some of the nitrogenous organic ma¬ 
nures, viz. shöyu cake and rape cake, did not act so well as 
the manures of purely animal origin but still they were practi¬ 
cally equal to the ammoniacal fertilizers. As their decomposi¬ 
tion in the soil seems to be less rapid, a slight fermentation in 
the compost bed may be recommended before their application. 
As to the farmyard manure we may remember that it consisted 
of a well fermented mixture of stable manure and night-soil. 
Assuming half the amount of nitrogen to have been present in 
the form of night-soil, the relative action of the farmyard 
manure alone, as compared with that of night-soil (= ioo), 
would amount to only 84. In common practice, the farmyard 
manure will certainly have a far lower action, possibly 50 or 
less, because its collection leaves, at present, much to be desired 
