256 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
grammes of the Bussey peat; No. II. with a mixture of 250 grammes 
of Berkshire sand, and 230 grammes of the Bussey peat; No. III. 
with a mixture of 250 grammes of coal-ashes, of the kind employed 
for the experiments that have been described on page 60, and 250 
grammes of the Bussey peat; and No. IV. with 350 grammes of the 
peat by itself’ Two buckwheat seeds were planted in each jar, and 
the several soils were watered with rain-water throughout the experi- 
ment. ‘The results of these trials were as follows : — 
The Crops, harvested April 29, 1873, 
No. and Contents 
hi H Wei i z : ; 
vaew tad (Deen ate be Grew to height in Had Seeds 
100° ©.) inches. a 
I — Green Sand 
1=17 Many fi , but 
and Peat | © 116. . |. 1 Tin § - | “aomame seas. 
a eee: aa 2 seeds and several 
and Peat . wit ae OEY onli «.) uh flowers. Only 1 
III — Coal Ashes He plant. 
= 9 seed 
and Peat. 71 he tNGOnse cs . ; 1—2 ; pont ang many 
TV — Peat alone 2a) eee wees 1 1 = 28 _ | 2tsceds and many 
L==41 flowers. 
These results are comparable to a certain extent with those recorded 
on pages 60, 63, and 64. See also page 254. It will be noticed, how- 
ever, that there were fewer plants in each jar in the present case than 
before. The fact that the mere peat gave the best crop of all, proba- 
bly depended upon the mechanical condition of that substance. It lay 
light and porous in the jar, and afforded an easy passage for air and for 
the roots of the plants. ‘ 
In the case of the New Jersey green sand, which is a substance 
naturally well supplied with most of the inorganic constituents of plant 
food, the need of nitrogen is manifest, and the advantages to be gained 
by adding it are easily shown, as has been already remarked, on page 
65. The following table exhibits this fact anew, and will serve also to 
illustrate the significance of the nitrogen in peat, as just recorded, when 
compared with that of the nitrates which were here used in its stead. 
A series of nine glass preserve jars were charged with the “ West 
Jersey green sand marl,” — 1210 grammes of it being weighed out for 
each jar. Certain chemicals of the kinds and amounts recorded in the 
