77 



Soaking Potatoes in Manurial Solutions. 



From time to time sensational results of experiments 

 are placed before the farmer with the intention of 

 attracting personal attention, or for other more vague 

 reasons, which, on being tested, proved to be valueless. 

 The advance made in scientific knowledge, as applied 

 to agriculture, has fortunately been so great that 

 when wild theories are advanced they are soon dis- 

 proved. It was owing to the fact that any theory 

 brought forward, no matter how scientifically unsound 

 the theory was, found advocates, who urged these 

 strange practices on to farmers, that farmers were 

 obliged to be prejudiced against any new discovery, 

 as so much held out to them was erratic. This has 

 changed now, and if a theory is not sound it is soon 

 thrashed out, and its weaknesses exposed. Such a 

 theory was one advanced recently. It was urged 

 that by soaking potato sets in a solution of sulphate 

 of ammonia and nitrate of potash the yield would 

 increase to a phenomenal extent. A series of experi- 

 ments tried at Warminster showed that harm rather 

 than good was done. There was nothing in the 

 theory advanced to support the idea that such results 

 as were promised should be obtained. 



