23 



" The plots marked 1st Class were better than one is accus- 

 tomed to see in pineapple sections. Plots marked 2nd Class 

 would pass for fine. 3rd Class good 4th Class indifferent, 

 with some spiky plants. 5th Class poor, with considerable 

 percentage of spiky plants. 6th Class practically worthless, 

 over 40 per cent, spiky, and the rest doing- poorly. 



CONCLUSION. 



Ammonia. — For young pineapple plants growing on spruce 

 pine land which has not been fertilised before, blood and bone 

 furnish the best form of ammonia used Nitrate of soda comes 

 next to blood and bone, but there is a strong difference and a 

 considerable step between these two. Bright cotton seed meal 

 gave better results than sulphate of ammonia. Our experi- 

 ments therefore seem to indicate that, as a source of ammonia, 

 blood and bone stand first, nitrate of soda second cotton seed 

 meal third, and sulphate of ammonia fourth of the substances 

 with which we have experimented. 



Potash. — While there is a great variation in the different 

 plots treated with different forms of potash, there seems te be 

 a greater difference due to the combination than to any par- 

 ticular form of potash. Summing up the whole and noting the 

 character we find that potassium magnesium carbonate proved 

 the most efficient. Low grade sulphate of potash, frequently 

 called the double potash salts, stands second in the list. While 

 none of its plots are unusually good, it has the good character 

 of having very few poor plots. High grade sulphate of potash 

 stands slightly below low-grade sulphate of potash in the 

 potash list. Muriate of potash stands fourth in the list when 

 all its combinations are considered, in spite of the fact that the 

 best plot in the field was fertilised with muriate of potash. 



Phosphoric acid. — As a whole, the experiments indicate that 

 a small amount of soluble phosphoric acid will suffice. Acid 

 phosphate is decidedly an unprofitable fertiliser in nine-tenths 

 of the combinations. Its bad effects cannot be ascribed to the 

 pressure of sulphuric acid or other caustic material. Bone 

 meal lias shown itself a very efficient substance. 



No fertiliser ingredient used in the above experiments is 

 absolutely bad in itself, but becomes bad by being combined 

 with certain other forms. The detrimental effect of the ferti- 

 lisers cannot be said to be due to some caustic substance in the 

 combination. The facts accumulated are not sufficient to war- 

 rant any further conclusion to be drawn " 



The European staff employed at the Gardens remains un- 

 changed, Mr. Blunden, one of the under gardeners, was a 



