725 



8. Ammonium chloride is n >t a ^ >od nitrogenous manure. This 

 is attributed to the chlorine in the ammonium chloride, which may 

 act as poison. When we- come to the potash manures I shall have 

 more to say regarding the poisonous effects of chlorides. 



From these experiments of Griffiths it is evident that the labour 

 spent on fractional dressing is m re than repaid by the large increase 

 of crops. 



In comparing the values of nitrate of soda and sulphate of 

 ammonia, it is generally stated that a dry soil is best for the nitrate 

 of soda, and that the sulphate acts better in a wet soil, in fact, 

 nitrate of soda is more liable to do injury than good in a heavy clay 

 soil, while the sulphate of ammonia will do good in almost any 

 soil. 



From these conclusions it might be argued that nitrate of soda 

 is by far the best nitrogenous manure to apply to the soils of 

 Western Australia. This, at the present time, I am not inclined to 

 admit, at least not until we have proved it to be so by practical 

 experiments. The conclusions I have given are those arrived at 

 by a great many experimenters in Great Britain, Europe and 

 America, where the conditions and soils are not quite the same as 

 we have in Western Australia. The soils here are much lighter and 

 the rains are confined to a much shorter period, although the total 

 rainfall is not so very much different in the actual amount for a year. 

 The rains being heavier and soils lighter than in these countries, 

 the nitrates will be more easily washed out, causing a large loss of 

 valuable manure, whereas the same thing would not take place in 

 the ca e of the sulphate of ammonia. Although we have not yet 

 had any experiments here as to the relative values of the two 

 manures, there have been some made in Victoria by A. N. Pearson. 

 From the results of these experiments he comes to the following 

 conclusions, which I will give in his own words. "In Europe, with its 

 cold winters, the nitrogen in the nitrate of soda^is more quickly taken 

 up by fruit trees and by root crops than the nitrogen of sulphate of 

 ammonia ; but I have tried the two in comparison with each other 

 five or six times on fruit trees and root crops in this country, and 

 find that this superiority does not exist here ; in fact, if anything, 

 the nitrogen in the sulphate of ammonia gives the better results/' 

 Our soils and climate being more comparable to those of Victoria 

 than to those of Europe, we can accept the results of Pearson's 

 experiments in Victoria as being applicable to this colony, at least 

 until the contrary is proven. 



POTASSIUM NITRATE. 



Potassium nitrate, saltpetre or nitre, is found as an efflorescence 

 on the surface of soils in a great many parts of the world, but prin- 

 cipally in India. The greater part of the nitrate of potash is made 

 from nitrate of soda by a double decomposition with a potash salt. 

 It does not give the results that might be expected from it; on 



