54 



BITTER PIT INVESTIGATION. 



CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 



Rubble. 



Loam. 



Nitrogen parts per 100,000 



Phosphoric acid ,, 



Potash ,, ,, 



Lime 



Magnesia ,, 



Chlorine ,, 



Litmus paper reaction 



Soil. 

 118 

 71 

 4 



218 



72 

 7 



Subsoil. 

 28 

 104 

 9 



124 



94 



6 



Soil. 



146 

 84 

 45 



206 



88 



8 



Subsoil. 



56 



86 



49 



104 



105 



6 



Slightly acid. 



Mr. P. R. Scott, Chemist for Agriculture, remarks : "These soils would be considered of 

 moderate quality. Whether they require an application of a complete fertilizer will largely depend 

 on the age of the trees and the growth of same since planting. I should be inclined to the opinion 

 that, given sufficient moisture, they would make steady growth. If the trees are inclined to make 

 wood, an application of phosphoric acid and potash appears to be the ingredients required to 

 encourage fruiting." 



The conditions under which the following results were obtained have just been stated, and as 

 the manures have been applied three years in succession, they should now have produced their full 

 effect on the crop. The difference in the trees that had received no manure during the same period 

 was very striking. The growth was poor and the foliage only medium, while the bulk of the fruit was 

 of small size and non-commercial. 



The application of manure ensures a crop every year in this particular variety, but in every 

 instance the proportion of Pit was greater in the manured than in the unmanured, with the exception 

 of the plot where peas had been sown in alternate years and dug in. And this suggests that in estimat- 

 ing the value of a manure for fruit production, the growth of a good crop of green stuff should be taken 

 into account. For this reason I have indicated those manures which encouraged the greatest amount 

 of green growth under the trees for ploughing in, although it must be remembered that such growth 

 would rob the trees of a certain amount of moisture. On the other hand, the humus added to the soil 

 would help to retain the moisture. 



TABLE XXIV. THIRD YEAS' s MANURIAL EXPERIMENTS WITH CLEOPATRA AT MOUNT 

 BARKER ESTATE ORCHARD, WESTERN AUSTRALIA SEASON 1914-15. 



Clean. 



Pitted. 



Per cent. Pitted. 



Plot 

 No. 



Manure. 



2 



Sulphate of ammonia 

 Ordinary superphosphate 

 Sulphate of potash 



Sulphate of ammonia 

 Special bonedust 

 Ordinary superphosphate 

 Sulphate of potash 



Per No. of On 



Tree. Trees. Yield. Trees. 



Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. 



11 ) 



4i 8 889 304 



7* 

 1* 



Wind- 

 falls. 



Ibs. 



76 



On 

 Trees. 



.Ibs. 

 333 



Wind- 

 falls. 



Ibs. 

 176 



On 

 Trees. 



52 



Wind- Per cent, 

 falls. Pitted. 



70 



57 



3 



- 

 71 



8 983 562 



95 



240 



30 



47 



33 



