Effect of Manurial Residues on Barley

Abstract

Barley was grown on plots which had carried potatoes in the 26 years prior to 1901, and which had received no fertilizer since that date. Ammonium sulphate was applied during the war years, and yields of SO bushels per acre were obtained from plots which had received superphosphate or dung annually for many years before 1901, Control plots, which had not received superphosphate when potatoes were being grown, gave yields of 20–25 bushels per acre. Barley can thus benefit from the residual effect of phosphates in certain types of soil, after a lapse of nearly 50 years.