particular case can it be ascertained, without experimental investiga- 

 tion or a chemical analysis of the soil, how far phosphates and potash 

 are really needed, it would nevertheless be a safe rule for hop farmers 

 to make a point of supplying their hops with an abundance of phos- 

 phates as well as with nitrogen, no matter whether they use dung or 

 not. Phosphatic manures are, happily, inexpensive, and the cost of 

 even a heavy dressing is so small an item in the unfortunately large 

 total expenditure which the production of a crop of hops involves, 

 that it seems scarcely worth while to seek to economise by withholding 

 phosphates where there is any chance of their being useful. 



On soils containing a fair quantity of carbonate of lime, half a ton 

 per acre of superphosphate or of vitriolised bones may safely be used 

 as an annual application without the slightest risk of doing harm ; 

 while on soils in which there is a scarcity of carbonate of lime the place 

 of superphosphate or vitriolised bones may be taken by a like dressing 

 of basic slag or of phosphatic Peruvian guano, or of precipitated phos- 

 phate made by neutralising superphosphate with lime a form of 

 phosphate which is now purchasable commercially under the name 

 of " basic superphosphate." 



On light soils, finely-ground bonemeal, in quantities of not less 

 than half a ton per acre, also makes a good phosphatic dressing, and 

 at the same time supplies some nitrogen ; while a very good phos- 

 phatic manure for light soils poor in lime may also be made by mixing 

 superphosphate and fine bonemeal in equal proportions, and using an. 

 annual dressing of not less than half a ton of the mixture per acre. 



In gardens where the application of phosphates has been neglected 

 and where the land is also poor in lime, any of the above-mentioned 

 dressings (basic slag, guano, bonemeal, or " basic " superphosphate) 

 might probably be advantageously increased in the first season to 

 15 cwt. per acre. 



Large dressings of ordinary acid superphosphate should not be 

 used or only rarely on soils containing little or no carbonate of 

 lime. Whether this is the case may be roughly ascertained by mixing 

 a few ounces of soil with water and then pouring on some hydro- 

 chloric ("muriatic") acid. If there is no distinct effervescence, 



