Planting in Fiji 467 



fruit trees on these lines. They were, quite 

 healthy, I manured them heavily and thereby 

 increased their yield to more than double the 

 natural quantity. They went on for two 

 seasons like this, and then died suddenly. I 

 tried my best to save them as soon as I saw 

 their condition, but did not succeed. There 

 was no outward sign of any special disease on 

 roots, stems or leaves ; they simply lost all 

 vitality, withered and died in a very short time. 

 The same thing has happened to me when 

 causing flowering plants by artificial means 

 to bear an unnatural, excessive production 

 of flowers. They soon died. 



There is an opinion generally held that by 

 analysing a soil intended to produce a certain 

 plant, and knowing what that plant's chemical 

 requirements or constituents are, you can tell 

 exactly what manure should be used. This is, 

 however, only true to a limited extent, and the 

 reason in many cases is simply that, although 

 a certain necessary ingredient is present in the 

 soil in quite sufficient quantity, as shown by 

 the analysis, it is not in such a condition as 

 to admit of its assimilation by the plant. 



My advice is that until you have ascertained 

 for a fact what kind of manure your soil requires, 

 when, and in what quantities it should be 

 applied, you had better limit yourself to experi- 

 ments only, and not waste a lot of money on 

 guesswork. 



What is written above applies to chemical 



