SMALL HOLDINGS 229 



coadjutor, Mr Shrivell, have grown upon 

 the average of five years from 40 to 63 tons 

 per acre, a quantity which is so large that it 

 is difficult to conceive why this lucrative 

 plant is not more generally grown upon the 

 same system of cultivation. By the expen- 

 diture of £5 upon an annual dressing of 12| 

 tons of dung, the weight of rhubarb grown 

 was 41 1 tons per acre. When the dung was 

 increased to double the quantity the yield 

 was 57| tons. When the smaller quantity 

 of dung was supplemented by phosphates, 

 potash salts, and 6 cwt. of nitrate of soda, 

 costing £9 14s. per acre, the crop reached 

 63f tons, and, be it remembered, these are 

 no isolated cases, but the actual average of 

 five successive years. Although these crops 

 were grown upon a Kentish soil which was 

 orignally a poor clay loam, or brick earth rest- 

 ing upon heavy clay, we would however warn 

 the reader not to presume too far, and to be 

 wary of soils which are plastic almost to the 

 surface, which are extremely difficult to drain 

 and clean, which poach easily in wet weather, 

 and which bum during heat. We have seen 

 instances in which experienced men have 

 attempted to grow rhubarb and crops of a 

 similar nature upon soils of this class, but 



