EXPERIMENTAL FARMS.

Patea Mail, Volume IV, Issue 330, 15 June 1878, Page 4

EXPERIMENTAL FARMS.

After years o f discussion, tv«'o experimental agricultural stations nave been fairly launched by the Highland and Agricultural society in the Lotliians. The society lias leased lands from Lord AYemyss, close to Louguuldry railway station, in Hast Lothian, and from Mr M ! Lagan,u'J,P.,at Pmmihorston, in MidLothian. A udr iamisto bo paid tor the lam!, and the proprietors have the option of purchasing the p.mmee of the stations at market price.-;. The experiments are to bo conducted by Dr AilKou, Edinburgh, who was lately appointed chemist to the society, at a salary of £3OO a.year At the last half-yearly meeting of the Highland Society, held in Edinburgh, Dr Aitkou sketched the proposed operations on the stations. From his remarks it appears that each station is to consist of ten acres, which will bo divided into' forty pilots of a root I each. Besides those there will.be detached portions, on which special experiments can be carried out

from time to time. The phots arc so divided as to secure accuracy and uniformity, and at the same time not interfere with the ordinary methods of cultivation. The stations are to be thoroughly fenced, so as to ward off ground game ; and every effort is to be made to prevent destruction to cropis by birds. It is proposed to pint the stations under a rotation of cropping similar to that common m the Lotbiaus—a fourcourse shift, beginning with turnips and going on with barley, grass, and oats. The experiments are to bo chiefly of a mammal kind. On this subject Dr Aitkon remarks ; ‘lt is not enough to know that a certain crop requires so much phosphates ; we must also know in what form they are best applied, that is to say, most economically ap>plicd. And if wo arc offeied phospfhatic manures at prices ranging from AI to £8 pier ton, it is a matter of vital importance to the farmer to know whether the value of the manures as crop-producers is proportional to their market Value, or whether in the end a cheap form of phosphate .may not ho as productive of a good crop as a dear one. The same remark applies'to the other important kinds of manures, and it is for the purpose of fully answering that question that the scheme of experiments has been drawn up.’