e 16th March,
costing:--

L. s. d.

1 1/4 cwt. nitrate of soda 0 17 6
1 " impure sulphate of magnesia 0 5 0
3/4 " silicate of soda 0 11 3
3/4 " common salt 0 2 0
1 1/4 " gypsum 0 2 0
Mixing and applying it, say 0 2 3

Total for statute acre L2 0 0

Speculating on the probability of a dry summer, I gave it an extra
quantity of manure, and I think where guano is used afterwards, as
it is by me, the nitrate of soda might be dispensed with, which
would bring the cost to L1 2s. 6d. per acre. I should prefer guano
to nitrate of soda, because of the phosphates contained in the
former. At the distance we are from the sea (about thirty miles)
it would seldom be necessary to apply common salt, as the gales of
winter generally bring as much as is needed; but last winter we
had no high winds, and I thought that where salt was applied with
other chemical manures, the wheat was more luxuriant than where
there was none; but owing to a misunderstanding of the instructions
to that effect, the produce was not kept separate. When the chemical
manure was applied, one land was left without, for the purpose of
comparison. Guano was sowed on the land on the 29th March, at the
rate of something less than 2 cwt. to the statute acre, one side of
the field being covered with Peruvian, the other with African, and
the land on which no chemical manure had been sowed was half of it
covered with guano, and the other half left without anything except
lime; but as it was thought desirable to ascertain the value of the
chemical manure without guano, half of this patch was sowed with the
chemical manure in April, after the long drought of the last spring
had set in. A small patch was left without manure, to show the
natural condition of the field, and to serve as a comparison with
the manured part alongside it, and also with the condition of the
field when the experiment commenced, 1841-2, when the unmanured
portion yielded only 19 2/3 bushels to the acre. This part of the
experiment, however, was frustrated by the carelessness of the men
who thrashed out the wheat. The crop was a very good one throughout
the field, but was evidently shorter and thinner where there was
no lime, and also where guano wa