Potatoes and Turnips Grown without Manure. 171 



Success of the Clifton Park System in Geq-wtng 

 Potatoes without Manure. — I now pass to an experiment 

 with potatoes in the case of the Haugh field of 27 acres — a 

 shingly-spotted haugh on the banks of the Bowmont — ^which, in 

 our early experience of the farm, always suffered extremely from 

 drought. It was laid down in 1893 with one of my mixtures 

 containing chicory, bumet, &c., and was ploughed up at the 

 close of the year (1900), and partly sown in 1901 with potatoes, 

 and partly with turnips. The former, which were manured with 

 dung and kainit, at an estimated cost of £2 10s. an acre, gave 

 15 tons per acre. Those which had no manure gave 14 tons 

 6 cwt. Estimating the potatoes at £2 per ton, the result was 

 £1 2s. in favour of the immanured portion. In the case of the 

 Balderston farm potato experiments near Linlithgow in 1903, no 

 less than 20 tons of dung per acre and 7^ cwt. of "artificials " 

 per acre were used. The Up-to-Date variety gave 10 tons 

 18 cwt. 6 lb. The same variety at OUfton-on-Bowmont gave 

 13 tons 14 cwt., and there were practically no diseased potatoes, 

 only an occasional one such as, I am told, is commonly seen in 

 nearly aU cases, whereas there were 7 cwt. 2 lb. of diseased 

 potatoes in the case of the Balderston experiments with the Up- 

 to-Date variety. The Evergood variety gave less in quantity 

 than we obtained from the Up-to-Date variety, and was free 

 from disease, so that had I been allowed to compete I should 

 have come out at the top with the aid of a variety which stands 

 fifth on the list, and shown a much larger profit, as I used 

 neither dung nor artificials. See also page 121. 



Turnips Grown without Manure. — In the Big Haugh 

 field some drills of turnips were sown without any manure in 

 1901 and 1903, and answered so well that in 1904 I ventured on 

 sowing a whole field (the East Countridge) with them. The 

 result has been most satisfactory, and competent judges have 

 declared that it would be impossible to have a finer crop of 

 turnips. But though the crop and the quality of the turnips 

 were both good, I do not advise farmers who may adopt my 

 system of farming to run the risk that would be incurred by 

 omitting the usual application of artificial manures, for though they 

 may be dispensed with in favourable seasons the stimulus required 

 in unfavourable seasons could not be wisely dispensed with. 



