90 EXPERIMENTS WITH SOLUBLE AND INSOLUBLE PHOSPHATES 



tents" was erected in the centre of the auriferous district,, 

 "claims" were allotted and "cradles" mounted, and digging 

 was commenced with much enthusiasm. At the outset a fair 

 return was obtained, but it soon began to fail, and having 

 become unremunerative the Duke of Sutherland closed the 

 " claims " and dispersed the diggers. The total value of the- 

 gold found was about £6000. 



Helmsdale is the only herring fishing station in the county. 

 It sometimes can boast of a pretty large fleet. In 1867 45,302 

 barrels of herring were cured at it ; wliile 3283 people were 

 employed in connection with the fishing. In 1877 the number 

 of boats fishing at Helmsdale was 196 ; the number of fishermen 

 and boys employed, 704 ; the number of fish-curers, 19 ; the num- 

 ber of coopers, 55 ; the value of the boats, £4225 ; the value of 

 the nets, £12,200 ; the value of the lines, £1197;— total value, 

 £17,622. The number of barrels of herring cured, 2047. The 

 number of cod, ling, or hake taken, 20,312. 



Clynelish is the only distillery in the county. It is not large ; 

 but the whisky is widely celebrated. It is kept at work about 

 twenty-five weeks in the year, and during that time it distils 

 between 1300 and 1400 quarters of barley, or a little over 50 

 quarters each week. 



EXPEEIMENTS WITH SOLUBLE AND INSOLUBLE PHOSPHATES 

 . AND NITROGEN ON THE GROWTH OF TURNIPS. 



By Thomas Lawson, Sandyford, Kirriemuir. 



[Fremium — Five Sovereigns.'] 



In 1876 the Aberdeen Agricultural Association surprised Scottish 

 farmers by the publication of a pamphlet, detailing the results 

 of a series of experiments on the growth of turnips, to test the 

 comparative values of soluble and insoluble phosphates of lime 

 and nitrogen as fertilizers for that croj). The results of these 

 experiments, as conducted by Mr Thomas Jamieson, the chemist 

 of the Association, e\ddently showed that insoluble phosphate, 

 from whatever source it was derived, whether animal or mineral, 

 in comparison with soluble, was almost equally valuable as a 

 fertilizer if ground down to a fine powder. This revolutionary 

 theory, though very favourable in a financial point of view for 

 farmers, was generally received by them with great distrust, on 

 account of its being totally opposed to all pre-conceived ideas of 

 the comparative values of these manures. The inquiries of the 

 Aberdeen Association during the next two years, 1877 and 1878,. 

 also tended to strengthen and confirm the first year's results. 

 The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland instituted a 



