438 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



that its amount can be altered by fertilization shows the ex- 

 istence of still untried modes of treatment to promote the 

 interests of horticulture ; for what has been noticed to affect 

 the quantity of sugar may, by some modification, prove 

 efficient in regard to other constituents. 



The entire vineyard has been fox several years fertilized, 

 with satisfactory results, with fifty pounds of soluble phos- 

 phoric acid, one hundred pounds of potassium oxide in form 

 of muriate of potash, twenty-five pounds of nitrogen in form 

 of Chili saltpetre (sodium nitrate), and twenty pounds of 

 magnesium oxide in form of crude sulphate of magnesia, or 

 kieserite. 



II. — Experiments with Strawberries. 



The varieties used for the experiment were the President 

 Wilder and Charles Downing. In the case of the Wilder 

 strawberry the following fertilizer was used per acre : Three 

 hundred pounds of rectified Peruvian guano, two hundred and 

 fifty pounds of dissolved bone-black, and two hundred pounds 

 of muriate of potash. The following analyses convey a good 

 idea of the difi"erence in ash constituents between the com- 

 mon wild variety, without special manures, and the culti- 

 vated variety. The Wilder was raised with the aid of the 

 above-mentioned fertilizers : — 



Wild Strawberry Fertilized Wilder Strawberry 



(Eicliardson). (College grounds). 



Ashes of fruit. Ashes of fruit. 



Potassium oxide, .... 38.38 per ct. 54.07 per ct. 



Calcium oxide, 25.89 " 14.79 " 



Magnesium oxide, .... trace 8.92 " 



Ferric oxide, 10.56 " 1.91 " 



Phosphoric acid, .... 20.30 " 20.31 " 



The common wild strawberry contains usually one part 

 acid to two of sugar, whilst it changes in the cultivated 

 varieties from one of acid to four and more of sugar. 



The experiments with the Downing variety were carried 

 out for the purpose of stud3dng the efi*ect of five different 

 kinds of special chemical manures on the ash constituents of 

 this variety of strawberry. Five plats, fourteen hundred 

 and thirty square feet in size, received the following fer- 

 tilizers : — 



