Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/172

 151 MEW PUBLICATIONS.

1. Uninanured.

2. Mineral manure.

3. Ammonia salts.

4. Nitrate of soda.

5. Ammonia salts and mineral mannre.

6. Nitrate of soda and mineral manures.

The mineral manure consisted of the sulpliates of potash and magnesia, cai'bonate and phosphate of lime, and chloride of sodium. The mixture was applied at the rate of 39.50 lb. per acre, a quantity which corre- sponded to less than six ounces per box. For box 3 a mixture of sul- phate and chloride of ammonium, at the rate of 800 lb. per acre, was used, and for box 4, 1100 lb. of nitrate of soda. For box 5 the manures for 2 and 3 were joined, and for box 6 those for 3 and 4. The manures were intimately mixed with the whole of the soil in the boxes. The twelve kinds of seed were sown in the several-prepared soils on April 1, 1869.

In spite of the great care and pains bestowed on these experiments, and the constant attention which they received during the season of groAvth, several circumstances are acknowledged to have impaired their value. The soil was too rich, while the seeds were not in all cases free i'rom admixture, and were too thickly sown. Yet, after all, some very interesting results have been obtained, valuable for comparison with past experiments, and indicating the proper method to be pursued in further in- quiries. We are bound to say that many of the commonly-neglected con- ditions of agricultural experiments, such as temperature, rainfall, with the proportion of stem to root, etc., were duly recorded iu the Chiswick series.-

We now proceed to give a very brief outline of the chief results obtained, premising, however, that a clear conception of the whole condi- tions and bearing of the experiments can be gathered only from the study of the original report.

1. In the unman ured boxes, nine out of the twelve species experimented with showed the minimmn degree of vigour. The exceptions were in the cases of AntJioxanthmn odoratum, Lotus cornicnlatus, and Achillea Mille-

folium. The deficiency of rain had generally less injurious effect upon the plants in the unmauured boxes than iu those which had been artifi- cially stimulated to increased growth, especially by nitrogenous appli- cations.

2. The boxes supplied with mineral manures exhibited poor results in the case of five Grasses out of six, the exception being the box of Poa annua. But two of the three Clovers, Trifolium jjratense and 1\ repenn, attained a high development, the thii'd plant, Lotm coruicidutits, being here an exception.

3. Ammonia salts benefited considerably all the Grasses save the An- tlioxantlinm and Lolium. The two species of Trifolium showed biit a low degree of vigour, but the Lotus attained a medium degree of develop- ment.

4. Nitrate of soda exercised less influence upon the species of Poa than upon the other Grasses, which latter mostly attained to a greater degree of development than in the preceding series with ammonia salts. The nitrate of soda proved of little use to the Clovers.

5. When mineral manures and ammonia salts were used together, they

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