93 



and 160 lb. nitrate of soda. Mr. R. F. Gow, of Abbotshall Vine! 

 yard, Victoria, applied 10 oz. of Thomas phosphate per vine, at a cost 

 of 1/13/11 per 1,000 thirty-seven-year-old Shiraz vines, said to be 

 worn out, obtained 40 cwt. of grapes ; but both these experiments 

 might have shown probably still better results with 100 to 150 lb. of 

 potash salts per acre, and in the last case with a nitrogenous manure. 

 Grapes need a large amount of available potash to produce rich ^and 

 sugary juice. 



RASPBERRIES. I cannot find anything better than the results 

 which Mr. Ewers, of this State, had." He applied 748 lb. of blood 

 manure, 133 lb. of double superphosphate, and 265 lb. of muriate 

 of potash, which gave him a crop of 2,957 lb. per acre, against 1,792" 

 lb. from unmanured canes. The quantity of nitrogen applied is 

 much in excess of what I find recorded elsewhere, and an increase 

 of the above-named manures increased the crop, but not the profit. 

 568 lb. nitrate of soda, 144 lb. of double superphosphate, and 143 

 lb. muriate of potash gave 2,598 lb.:j 



STRAWBERRIES. Where 25 tons dung were applied at Hadlow, in 

 comparison with 12J tons more leaves were produced, but actually 

 10 J cwt. less fruit per acre. By adding phosphoric acid (700 lb. 

 Thomas phosphate apparently) and 1 cwt. nitrate of soda to the 

 12 J tons dung, the yield was 7f cwt., and with 2 cwt. of nitrate of 

 soda, 19 cwt. above the dung alone. Potash was found to be un- 

 necessary for the soil at Hadlow ; in the form of kainit perhaps even 

 injurious. For a month of the fruiting season or two years had 

 His Grace the Duke of Bedford the dressings dissolved in water, and 

 given in equal doses once a week, so that each plant received about 

 one quart at each application. These dressings consisted of 3.96 

 lb. of sulphate of ammonia, or 5.87 lb. of nitrate of soda, or 6.98 

 lb. of potassium-nitrate, or 3.96 lb. of sulphate of ammonia, and 

 1.65 lb. sulphate of iron. The results from two-year-old plants 

 were about 68 per cent, larger than from one-year plants, but the 

 berries of the latter were larger, and none of the plots thus manured 

 showed, although the season was dry, any appreciable increase over 

 the undressed plot. During the next three years some of the 

 plots received at the rate of 30 tons of London dung per acre, others 12 

 tons, others an equivalent of 12 tons of dung in commercial fertilisers, 

 but except that the first-named produced in the first year after the 

 manuring an appreciable increase in the crop, and that nitrate of 

 . soda gave an increase of 10 to 15 per cent, on the average, and the 

 sulphate of iron, probably in conjunction with sulphate of ammonia, 

 an increase of 26 per cent., there is yet nothing certain in the 

 experiments. 



TOMATOES. 160 lb. of nitrate of soda proved almost as effectual 

 as 20 tons dung, showing again that dung is not sufficiently avail- 

 able for short-living plants. From 125 to 250 lb. of sulphate of 

 ammonia, 280 to 560 lb. of a phosphatic manure, and 80 to 160 lb. 

 of muriate or sulphate of potash are used in the United States. 



