26 



5od for se(- out in 1889. In the spring of 1891 Nitrate of Soda 

 ^'^"^^ was sown broadcast on part of the patch at the rate of 200 

 pounds per acre, while the other part received no Nitrate. 

 The result was as follows : 



No Nitrate 162 quarts per plot (^ acre). 



With Nitrate 213 quarts per plot [j^i acre). 



The gain from the use of Nitrate was at the rate of 

 408 quarts per acre. This was due largely to the increased 

 size of the berries. These berries sold at the average price 

 of 10^ cents per quart, so that from the use of 200 pounds 

 Nitrate of Soda, costing I4.50, there was a gain of $44.3 2 

 per acre, or 10 cents for every cent invested in Nitrate. 



In Orchard and Garden for May, 1890, Professor 

 W. W. Massey, of the North Carolina Experiment Station, 

 writes as follows : 



'<In the spring of 1888 I top-dressed an old strawberry bed, in its fihh 

 year of bearing, with 300 pounds of Nitrate of Soda per acre. I had 

 intended to plow it up the previous summer, but other matters prevented, 

 and the bed was in an exhausted condition and rather foul with white clover 

 and sorrel. The effect was amazing, for this bed of an acre and a quarter, 

 from which I expected hardly anything, gave me 7,000 quarts of berries. 

 Variety Crescent with fertilizing rows of Wilson, Sharpless and others. The 

 crop was nearly as large as the best plot had made." 



This was on moist bottom land, naturally fertile. 

 ^^ , . As has been shown bv the experiments on 



^ ' tomatoes, peaches and strawberries, enor- 



" h ' • - mous profits are often realized from the 

 cose , use of fertilizers on these fruits. The same 



^* is undoubtedly true in the case of rasp- 



berries, currants, etc., although we have unfortunately no 

 comparative experiments with the use of fertilizers on them. 

 We have, on our own farm, a little over three acres of 

 red currants which have been in bearing for five or six years. 

 In 1890 the crop was less than 6,000 pounds ; in 1891 it 

 was 8,200 pounds. In the spring of 1891 we applied a 

 mixture of superphosphate and kainit (potash) at the rate 

 of about 400 pounds per acre. In the spring of 1892 we 

 applied 200 pounds superphosphate, 100 pounds muriate 

 of potash and 200 pounds Nitrate of Soda per acre. The 

 crop of 1892 amounted to nearly 16,000 pounds, and sold 

 for over $800, yielding a net profit of ^300 more than the 



