148 INFLUENCE OF MANURES ON GRASS LAND. 

of the herbage, while Mr. Wakerley gave his undivided 
attention to the sampling. From each swath, at intervals 
of five paces, a handful of grass was lifted and placed in 
a bag, and in this way about a stone of herbage was 
collected from each plet. A piece of ground was then raked 
clean, and on it the herbage so collected was evenly spread 
out, care being taken to separate any tangled or matted por- 
tions. It was then raked together and re-spread three times, 
when small handfuls were taken from six points of the area. 
This final sample, weighing about two pounds, was placed 
in a paper bag previously labelled, and when the sixteen 
samples from any station were thus collected they were at 
once despatched to the College, where they arrived on the 
following morning. There they were spread out in a green- 
house to dry, and in a few days they were fit to return 
to their respective bags, to be put aside till the analysis could 
be undertaken. 
Preparation for the actual separation of the species was 
made by mounting on sheets specimens of all the plants 
likely to be met with. These specimens served for purposes 
of reference in cases of difficulty, and were quite indis- 
pensable. Most of the work of separation was done, under 
supervision, by two fourth-year students, Mr. L. Abram, 
B.Sc., and Mr. T. Hacking, Gold Medallist of the R.A.S.E. 
The mere separation of the plants of a half-pound sample of 
dried herbage—apart from weighings and calculations—was 
found to occupy the time of a worker for about six hours, 
the 128 samples taking practically two months to deal with. 
The soil at the eight stations may be thus described :— 
Tih SU 
Blencow, clay loam. Brampton, deep sandy loam. 
Castle Carrock, gravelly loam. Gosforth, gravelly loam. 
Eskdale, moderate loam. Kirkbampton, deep moist loam. 
Glasson, deep peat. Wigton, clay loam. 
The number of plants met with in the course of the analysis 
was about fifty, though only about half a dozen were of 
sufficient abundance to be of first-rate importance. It will 
probably be most convenient to deal with these important 
plants serzatcm ; the influence of nitrate of soda, sulphate of 
ammonia, superphosphate, basic slag, kainit, and lime being 
