July 2, 188^,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



T7 



POTASH A>S A FERTILIZER. 



The following letter appeared iu a late issue of the 

 Jfurk-Lmie Express: — 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " ADELAIDE OBSEE\'EE." 



Sir, — Although an admitted fact that soils devoid of potash 

 are incapable of yielding remunerative crops, it was con- 

 sidered, till quite recently, that very few soils were so 

 deficient that the farmer need trouble about this substance. 



For several years I have conducted numerous experi- 

 ments with kainit with no marked results. During the 

 la.st four years I have been woi'king with muriate of potasli 

 of SO |j(ir cent, and have obtained such very tlefinitc results 

 tliat 1 consider them of sufficient importance to British 

 agriculture to warrant me asking you to give them publicity. 



From very many experiments I will cite but thi-ee, but 

 these have so marked a character that they cannot but 

 be of interest, even should they not lead many farmers 

 to exyjeriments for themselves. 



1. In March, 1881, Mr. AVilhara Betts, of Flitcham, was 

 induced, by previous year's experiments, to apply to a 40 

 acre field of new ley 10 stones per acre of muriate of 

 potash, leaving unsown two strips each, of about 'SO yards 

 in breadth across the field. The salt was applied later than 

 was advisable, and the small rainfall of the next two months 

 was insuflacient to wash it iu. A poor crop of hay was 

 reaped, so little better than the portions undressed that 

 it was not deemed worth while to determine the difference 

 in the yield of equal dressed and undressed portions. This 

 year the field, being in wheat, showed so plainly where 

 the potash was missed that it was generally admitted by 

 the many farmers who visited it that, at least, there was 

 from a quarter to one -and -a -half quarters of corn per acre 

 more on the dressed laud. Unfortunately this harvest 

 time was so fickle that no time could be spared to cut 

 out measured plots for an accurate determination of results. 



2. Mr. Alfred Oldfield, of Grimston, applied iu the early 

 spring two cwt. of muriate of potash of 86 per cent to 

 an acre of clover ley, leaving the remamder of the field 

 undressed. Plots of 20 rods from the di-essed and undressed 

 portions were cut and made by themselves. "Weighed as 

 the crop was carted to the stack, the results were as 

 follows: — The dressed portion gave equal to 3 tons per acre; 

 the undressed, 2 tons 2 cwt. 4 lb per acre. 



3. In April last I was requested by Mr. F, J. Gooke, 

 of Flitcham Abbey, to give an opinion respecting three 

 acres of barley, a portion of a 40 acre field. I found the 

 three acres in question had been sown last year with white 

 turnips, the rest of the field with swedes. The white 

 turnips had been clean dra^vn for enrly lamb feeding; from 

 about one-half of the three acres both bulbs and tops were 

 carted off, from the other only the bulbs, the tops being 

 left in rows. At biirley sowing these three acres received 

 per acre 2 cwt. nitrate of soda and 2^ cwt. superphosphate 

 of lime. Yet at the time of my visit, the barley was yellow 

 and sickly to a degree, offering a most striking contrast 

 to the adjoining barley on the swede land, which latter 

 crop was fed on the land by fattening hoggets, I noticed 

 strips where the tops of the white tm-nips had rotted in 

 the autumn looked decidedly better than the spaces between, 

 and then about one acre where both tops and bulbs had 

 been carted off. The idea at once suggested itself that 

 deficiency of potash iu the soil was the cause of this un- 

 healthiness. I advised an immediate application of from 

 one to two cwt. of muriate of jiotash per acre. This was 

 done on the worst acre. Rain immediately followed. At 

 once a marked improvement took jjlace, and which was 

 more and more pronounced as the season advanced. AVhere 

 the potash was not applied, the barley, a good plant, struggled 

 to develop ears, but failed totally to perfect any corn; the 

 stems were weak, very few able to maintain an erect 

 position. When I went in August to assist Mr. Cooke 

 to mark out plots for careful separation and estimation 

 of balks, he agreed it was quite irseless to mark a plot 

 on the portion imdressed, as there was no com; a few 

 "shapes." probably a quarter per acre, certainly no more. 

 A ;>lot of 12 poles of the dressed plot was staked out, the 

 ha- -y stookeil and afterwards carefully thrashed. The 

 yield was 11 pecks or 40 qurs. 1 bush, per acre. 



These experiments have been accompanied and preceded 

 by numerous others, all teaching the same lesson with 

 vary i ng emphasis. The conclusions unmistakably forced 



upon me by them are — That the varying fertility of soils 

 not only depends on the presence of availalile phosphates 

 and nitrogeueous compounds, but in a very important 

 degree upon the presence of available pot;Lsh. The fact 

 has been long established by M. Georges Ville, that with 

 potash absent, no healthy gro^vth is possible; but it is not 

 yet generally conceded that a large proportion of our English 

 fields have been by cultivation so robbed of potash as to 

 be unable to yield maximum crops of clover, pulse, mangels, 

 and even in some cases of corn, even when dressed by 

 phosphates and nitrogen. How important this question is 

 to agriculture in its present depressed condition it ai)pears 

 to me impossible to over-estimate. If, as my experiments 

 declare possible, by an outlay of 8s. to 13s. per acre hi 

 23otash, an increase can be obtained of throe-quarters of 

 a ton of hay, of one quarter of corn, of three tons of 

 potatoes, of ten tons of mangels, it needs no philosopher 

 to show the importance of experimenting at least on the 

 various soils of other districts. 



Soils themselves ought to be solicited to inform the cultiv- 

 ator whether potash is deficient or not. If by adding this 

 substance to plots of potatoes, grasses, peas, beans, or mangels, 

 no increased yield is obtained, the land replies that potash 

 exists in sufficient abundance. If, however, a marked increase 

 results, the land replies that it requires an addition of potash 

 to acquii-e the power of building up maximum yields of 

 these crops. 



I would not advise any extensive experiment on wheat, 

 barley, or oats, save on barley following white turnips, 

 mangels, or vetches, where these crops have been removed 

 from, not fed on, the land. On naturally poor land a 

 marked result may then confidently be looked for. — 

 I am, Sir &c., Thomas Brom'x King's Lynn. 



OX IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION 

 OF JAPAN TEA. 



(Translated from the Keizai Zashi Correspondence.) 

 Political economy tells us that the variations in the 

 prices of commodities are caused by their exchange for 

 the labour required for producing them, and that the 

 price of the former arises from the value of the latter. 

 The labour is therefore the greatest factor of all those 

 which regulate the prices of commodities. Now the sum 

 of 10,000,000 yeiiy brought by the exportation of our tea, 

 will have mostly to be put into the pockets of those who 

 manufacture this staple article. How great a bearing has 

 this branch of industry upon the welfare of many of om- 

 people ! The time being near the tea season, affords me a fair 

 occasion to allude a little to the improvement of thf present 

 tea manufactiu-e, although it may only be like " looking at 

 the heavens through a reed." 



The recent fall in the price of tea is entirely due, it is 

 said, to the bad manner in which this article is maimfact- 

 ured. " The lamplight goes out because the oil is all 

 gone," and so there must be a certain cau.se that has 

 brought about this depreciation. In my opinion it is due 

 to the spirit of selfishness amongst -our tea pj-oducers. 

 Accordmg to the present system of our tea ex]iortatiou, 

 it is delivered equally to foreigners, without any distinc- 

 tion of good or bad, or any reference to the names of 

 the producers. In America, as a matter of course, and 

 even in our open ports, foreigners do not know the 

 name of the producers, and therefore the latter have no 

 means of making known their names by the good quality 

 of their tea. It is therefore a natural result that they 

 are not iuspu-ed with any wish to improve their produc- 

 tions. Then- honesty and sldll are also entirely unkno^m 

 amongst the foreigners. The producers are not indiscreet 

 nor lazy workmen, yet the aforesaid condition tenuis 

 much to induce them to engage in dishonest practi'ies 

 in manufacturing this staple article. Moreover, a foreign 

 gentleman well acquainted with the trade said a short 

 time since, it is often the case that the more the capital, 

 the less the profit, and therefore the producers dare not 

 attempt to increase their profit by altering or improving 

 the present system of manufacturing at the cost of their 

 funds. 



Now the only means by which we can get rid of such an 

 evil is to establish a system of using trade marks to 



