464 



Report of the Horticulturist of the 



appearance and notes were made on the prevalence of tip burn and 

 injury from diseases. 



crop i. winter 1895-6. 



During the winter of 1895-1896 a soil mixture which had given 

 good results in forcing lettuce at this Station, and which in this 

 report will be called Soil 1, was compared with other soil mixtures 

 which differed from it only in the increased amounts of sand which 

 were added to them. Soil 1 was made of 1 part sand, by bulk, 

 1 part stable manure and 3 parts rotted sod from a clay loam found 

 on the Station farm. The percentage, by weight, of the in- 

 gredients of the different soil mixtures is shown in Table I. 



Table I.— Ingredients and Chemical Constituents of Soil Used for 



Lettuce Forcing. 



* - 



(CROP I.) 



Ingredients. 



Chemical constituents. 

 (Water-free samples.) 



Soil. 



Total 

 Loam. Sand. Manu e. Nitrogen, phosphoric Potash. 



acid. 



Per ct. Per ct. Per ct. P. ret. Per ct. 



1. (bulk) 60. 20. 20 



1. (weight) .63.0 26.3 10.7 0.181 0.161 



2. (weight) 49.1 42.4 8.5 0.161 0.109 



3. (weight) 41.3 51.7 7.0 0.121 0.085 



Per ct. 



0.222 

 0.111 



0.090 



The loam was prepared by piling sod in alternate layers with 

 stable manure and allowing it to become pretty well rotted so that 

 it was rich, friable and filled with " fibre." The sand was clean 

 and sharp. The manure was fairly well rotted horse manure. 



Sample of these soils were given to Mr. W. H. Andrews, assist- 

 ant chemist, for analysis. His report of the percentages of nitro- 

 gen, phosphoric acid and potash, as determined by official methods 

 of analysis, is given in Table T. 



In these important elements of plant-food the analyses show that 

 Soil 1 was richest and Soil 3 poorest. This was to be expected 

 because, as Table I shows, the percentage of manure was greatest 



