48 THE POTATO, 



Scotland, was recently issued by Professor Wright, of the 

 West of Scotland Agricultural College. Although very 

 much delayed, the report has considerable interest at this 

 time on account of the great boom in potato culture, when 

 many growers are trying to get the largest possible yield 

 from small quantities of the seed of new varieties. The 

 experiments have, for the most part, been carried out over 

 a period of four years, and on a great variety of soils. On 

 each of the farms the same set of twelve different manurial 

 dressings was tried, the plots receiving some farmyard 

 manure' alone, some artificials alone, and others various 

 combinations of the two. The general results show that 

 the best dressing was one consisting of 10 tons of farm- 

 yard manure, 4 cwt. of superphosphate of lime, 1 cwt. of 

 sulphate of ammonia, and 1J cwt. of sulphate of potash 

 per acre. The use of an extra 10 tons of farmyard manure 

 instead of the artificials produced a smaller yield at a 

 greater cost. When artificial manures alone were used 

 the best combination was one of 6 cwt. of superphosphate, 

 2 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia, 2 cwt. of sulphate of 

 potash, and 1 cwt. of nitrate of soda. The last-named 

 was applied as a top-dressing after the growth appeared 

 above the ground, just before earthing up was done. 



Some English Experiments. Experiments in the 

 manuring of potatoes, carried out by the Durham College 

 of Science, have led to the following conclusions, which 

 form a useful summary of this important subject: 1. 

 During 1903 potash proved, in the majority of cases, to 

 be the most important ingredient for potatoes, muriate of 

 potash proving the most satisfactory potash manure. 2. 

 Nitrogen in all cases proved of great value, and should be 

 included in all mixtures for this crop. 3. Phosphates, 

 although generally of less importance than potash and 

 nitrogen, are necessary on certain classes of soils. 4. When 

 artificials are used alone it is best to apply a " complete " 

 dressing. 5. Dung alone gave better results than artificials 

 alone, but their relative effects depend largely upon cir- 



