68 



Bonum/' and harvested, without commercial manure, 22",700 Ib. of 

 tubers per acre; with 480 Ib. of Thomas phosphate, 28,160 Ib. ; with 

 480 Ib. of Thomas phosphate and 80 Ib. of nitrate of soda, 30,880 

 Ib. ; and with 480 Ib. of Thomas phosphate, 80 Ib. of nitrate of soda,, 

 and 160 Ib. of muriate of potash, 31,040 Ib. The soil seemed 

 to require hardly any potash, except that in the farmyard dung and 

 in the soil to give a full crop. M. Houry, of Val-Notre-Dame, ob- 

 tained from one-fortieth of an acre, without manure, 128 Ib. of 

 potatoes; from farmyard dung, 422 Ib. ; and adding Thomas phos- 

 phate to the dung, 576 Ib., as reported by Dr. Smets. 



M. C. Ribaux, of Plan-Jacot, who has great faith in the lasting 

 qualities of Thomas phosphate of from four to seven years, planted 

 potatoes without commercial manures on land that had 14,000' 

 Ib. old dung for a crop of wheat, and again 12,000 Ib. a fortnight 

 before planting, and his crop was 16,198 Ib. ; with 550 Ib. of Thomas 

 phosphate the yield was 18,832 Ib. ; with 550 Ib. Thomas phosphate 

 and 480 Ib. kainit, 18,304 Ib. ; with 225 Ib. nitrate of soda added 

 to the above 550 Ib. and 480 Ib., 20,240 Ib.; with the Thomas 

 phosphate and nitrate of soda, 19,164 Ib. ; and with only 275 Ib. of 

 Thomas phosphate, 17,240 Ib. The profits over the cost of the/ 

 commercial manures were respectively 60/, 29/, 60/, 36/6, and 19/. 



Mr. Hoppenstedt, of Sladen, Germany, found a large increase 

 in his crop of heavy soil, where he used potash to three varieties 

 of potatoes, but he used only kainit, and proved how necessary 

 an earlier application of this salt is, especially with later sorts, that 

 could utilise the potash for a longer time. He used 128 Ib. of nib 

 rate of soda and 96 Ib. of superphosphate to 480 Ib. of kainit at the 

 planting of the potatoes, and had 4,800 Ib. more than from not 

 manured land, and 1,974 Ib. more than where only the nitrate ff 

 soda and superphosphate had been given. Where the 480 Ib. of 

 kainit had been applied in autumn he had 5,386 Ib. per acre more, 

 and, where given to a previous crop, 8,852 Ib. more harvested than 

 from unmanured land. The starch was only 16.5 per cent, where 

 kainit was given at the planting, 18.7 per cent, if given in autumn, 

 and 19.9 per cent, if to a previous crop. (See last page as to app.i- 

 eation of manures). 



Another interesting experiment was made by Mr. Hermann, 

 of Urnshagen. He manured in 1897 with 4 cwt. of kainit, 4 cwt. of 

 Thomas phosphate, and 196 Ib. of nitrate of soda at per acre for 

 oats and vetches, and harvested 6 cwt. 80 Ib. per acre more grain and 

 16.78 cwt. more straw than from an unmanured block. He then 

 planted in 1898 potatoes, and had on the unmanured 82 cwt., and on 

 the land manured in 1897 at the rate of 168 cwt. per acre, or, 

 after deduction of the cost of the manure, a profit at the rate of 

 7/17/9 for the two years. 



Mr. Wermter, of Robertshof, in East Prussia, manured good 

 medium soil with stable dung, and had -at the rate of 156 cwt. of 

 potatoes per acre ; but where he supplemented the stable dung 

 with at the rate of 8 cwt. of Thomas phosphate, 2J cwt. of 40 per 

 cent, kainit (here to be substituted by 2 cwt. of muriate of potash) r 

 and 3 cwt. of nitrate of soda, the result was at the rate of 250 cwt. 

 per acre. (See plate XL) 



