3320 INFLUENCE OF MANURES ON MUTTON. 

but are well finished. This season the nine sheep from 
Plot 5 were particularly good, and were valued at the same 
figure as the eleven animals from Plot 8, but the butcher 
expressed a slight preference for the latter. Last year the 
sheep from Plot 8 were worth 5s.a head more than those 
from Plot 5. 
A very interesting contrast is presented by Plot 9. Here, 
as the reader will have anticipated, the nitrogenous manure 
has quickened the growth in spring, and in the first month con- 
siderably more mutton hasbeen produced thanon Plot 5. Had 
fresh pasturage been available the sulphate of ammonia 
might have been distinctly useful to the stock, but under the 
conditions of the experiment it has proved anything but 
serviceable. There is a very decided falling off in the second 
period, and it is not followed by a recovery in the later months, 
as in the case of Plot 7, so that the sheep when placed before 
the butcher wanted “ bloom,” and were valued at a lower rate 
than their weights would have led oneto expect. A reference 
to the column headed ‘“‘ Net Gain or Loss,” in Table L., will 
show that the differences between the butcher's valuations and 
those obtained by weighing have in four seasons amounted to 
14s. 7d., 148. 11d., and 11s. gd. respectively on Plots 5, 7, and 
8; while on Plot 9 the difference has been 18s. 9d. The 
butcher knows nothing respecting the treatment, or the live 
weight, of the animals placed before him, and he affixes a 
value depending on the size and quality of the sheep. 
These values indicate that, in his opinion, the sheep 
from Plot 8 are worth more per pound live-weight, and the 
sheep from Plot 9 are worth less, than those fed on Plot 5. 
Without attempting to draw general conclusions, it may 
be said that the third and fourth seasons of the Tree Field 
experiment clearly indicate that manures may modify the 
value of pasture by affecting the season of growth, as well as 
by increasing the weight of produce. Under the influence of 
different manures a late pasture may be made earlier,or a short- 
lived pasture may be induced to persist far into the autumn. 
There is nothing new in this assertion ; most farmers who have 
had experience in the manuring of pastures will have remarked 
it, as certainly as they have noted that increased production 
