GENERAL PRACTICE. MANURES. 



53 



MINERAL CONSTITUENTS OF FRUIT. 



The first strawberry analysis refers to fruit grown on fertile clay, the second to fruit 

 grown on light soil where soda replaces the potash. Chloride of sodium exists in the 

 fig to the extent of 4 02 ; melon, 9'06 ; and pine apple, 17'01. 



Besides the above mineral constituents in the fruit, there are organic compounds 

 derived from the air and the soil. Nitrogen is indispensable, but science and practice 

 are agreed in its being a most active stimulant of wood growth and foliage, and have 

 found it, when in excess, to check fruit-bearing. When special stimulants for inducing 

 fruitfulness are desired, care should be taken to afford a plentiful supply of the sub- 

 stances shown in the ash analysis. 

 ** 



The importance of applying manures to benefit fruit in the first stages of swelling, 



is made clear by Mr. J. J. Willis in The Gardeners 1 Chronicle, vol. vii., third series, page 

 642, in valuable tables from the Bulletin of the Missouri (Columbia) Department of 

 Horticulture, showing the mineral constituents of apples in three stages of their growth, 

 as ascertained by Professor J. W. Clark from an analysis of their ashes. 

 Three samples of the fruit were taken as follows : 



1. Made up of green immature apples picked from the tree, July 9th, and averaging 

 14 inch in diameter. 



2. Taken October 23rd, and composed of large and perfect fruit, averaging 3| inches 

 in diameter. 



3. Also taken October 23rd, and made up of small and imperfectly formed apples 

 which averaged 2| inches in diameter. 



