308 



December, I9l3 



hands at the end of the tier and pull- 

 ing the apples towards himself. The re- 

 maining apples required to complete the 

 tier should then he inserted at the end 

 of the case farthest from the packer. 

 After the first tier has been packed, the 

 second tier should be so packed that no 

 fruits in this tier should directly rest 

 upon the fruits in the tier below. This 

 principle should be observed throughout, 

 until the packing of the box is com- 

 pleted. The rows should be straight, 

 both lengthways and diagonally. 



The apples must be carefully select- 

 ed with regard to uniformity in size, 

 color, and general quality, if an attrac- 

 tive and properly packed case of fruit 

 is desired. If the fruits are not care- 

 fully selected with regard to equality in 

 size before being placed in the case, the 

 required number corresponding to the 

 grade of the fruit cannot be packed. For 

 example, if it was intended, when com- 

 mencing to pack the case, to pack 175 

 fruits, this could not be accompHshed if 

 the packer were to introduce fruits 

 which rightly belong to the grade which 

 would run 200 fruits to the case. He 

 would discover that his pack would be 

 thrown out of line in many directions, 

 and a buyer on examining the top layer 

 would know at a glance that' tlie case 

 was incorrectly packed, even if the 

 trade description indicated that the case 

 contained the requisite number (175 

 fruits).— Sept.. 1913. Victorian Jour- 

 nal of Agriculture. 



G. A. PREVOST & CO.. 



25-27 steamship Buildings, 

 CURRIE STREET, ADELAIDE. 



COLONIAL rRODUCE EX- 

 PO,RTERS, 



on Commission Only. 



Special attention given to the 

 Export of Fruit to English, Ger- 

 man, and other Markets. 



Woodwool, Apple Wrapping Paper, 

 Apple Cases, Pear Trays— m the 

 regulation Export Sizes. 



All Orchardists' requisites suppled 

 at Lowest Rates. 



Agent for — 



The Harvey Orchard Ploughs and 



Cultivators. 

 BAVE-U Motor Power Spray Pumps. 

 On view at our North Terrace Store. 



Valuation of Manures. 



In manuring for a crop it is not 

 necessary to suppl>- all the consti- 

 tuents o'f food that the plant re- 

 quires, since experience has shown 

 that in orchard practice the 

 plant is able to secure for itself 

 from the soil a suflUcient supply of 

 certain elements of plant food. 

 Other constituents again may be 

 d'eficient, either from the nature of 

 the soil or from the strain put 

 upon it by the removal of crops 

 grown. The manurial constituents 

 which have been found to be most 

 beneficial when added to the soil 

 are nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and 

 potash. Lime has also often a 

 marked effect on crops, but this is 

 due not so much to its action as 

 a plant food, as to the effect pro- 

 duced on the other constitutents of 

 the soil. The form^ of combination 

 of the constituents of a manure 

 considerably affect its value, since 

 these must he in certain conditions 

 to be available. ' This available 

 condition is generalhl secured when 

 the constituents aPa soluble in 

 water or in the acid juices secret- 

 ed by the rootlets of plants. 

 Hence increased value is always 

 given when the constituents are in 

 a soluble, form, as they are then 

 more readilv assimilated' by plants. 



— Nitrogen. — 



The activity of nitrogen in vari- 

 ous forms of' manure is a subject 

 that has received much attention. 

 The results obtained by Wagner, 

 in which the experiments Listed 

 over several vears, and were made 

 with different' crops, are as follows: 

 —Nitrate of soda ; 100 ; sidphate 

 of ammonia, 90 ; blood, powdered 

 horn, and green crops, 70-; steamed 

 bone-du.st, fresh guano and meat 

 guano, 60 ; farmyard manure, 45 ; 

 wool dust, 30 ; powdered leather 

 20. These numbers give a good 

 general indication of the compara- 

 tive value of these numbers, but 

 the nature of the soil and seasons 

 will cause the effects to vary to a 

 certain extent. 



— Phosphoric Acid. — 



This constituent in manures is 

 generallv in combination with lime 

 as phosphate of lime. Since, how- 

 ever, there are four different forms 

 of phosphate of lime and since 

 these differ, both in their commer- 

 cial value and in their efficiency as 

 plant food, it is important to 

 know which of these forms the 

 manure contains. There is prob- 

 al)K- m'ore confusion with regard to 

 these than with any other consti- 



tuent of manure. In natural raw 

 phosphates the phosphoric acid is 

 in the form of tricalcic phosphate, 

 which is insoluble in water. The 

 manufacturer of superphosphate of 

 lime, however, con\erts it by the . 

 action of sulphuric acid, into mono- 

 calcic phosphate, w"hich is soluble. 

 The amount of the latter is gener- 

 allv expressed bv manufacturers 

 and vendors as " soluble phos- 

 phate." When this is done the 

 amount does not represent the 

 true monocalcic phosnhate, but the 

 amount of the original tricalcic 

 which has been rendered soluble. 

 This, of course, expresses a higher 

 percentage, the ratio of monocalcic 

 phosphate to "soluble phosphate" 

 being about i to 1,5,. Under cer- 

 tain conditions • a portion of the 

 monocalcic phosphate becomes con- 

 verted into a less soluble form. — 

 that of dicalcic phosphate — or, in 

 some cases, into the phosphates of 

 iron and alumina. In these forms 

 it is known as retrograde or re- 

 verted phosphate, and while in- 

 soluble in^ water, it is soluble in a , 

 solution of ammonium citrate, 

 consequently it is generally known 

 as citrate soluble phosphate. In 

 basic slao^ the phosphoric acid is 

 in the form of tetracalcic phos- 

 phate, which is also more or less 

 soluble in nitrate solution, and 

 therefore of hi<jher value than the 

 tricalcic phosphate in bones, phos- 

 phatic guano, rock phosphate, etc. 

 Wagner, before auoted, gives the 

 comparative values of various 

 phosphatic manures, as follows ; — 

 Superphosphate of lime, too; basic 

 .slag (finest), 6'i ; basic slao" (fine), 

 58 ; raw guano, 30 ; basic slag 

 (coarse), 13, ; bone meal, 10 ; co- 

 prolite powder, 9. 



— Potash. — 



As all the salts of potassium 

 used as manures are soluble in 

 water, the potash present may be 

 con.sidered to be of equal value 

 in the various manures, and con- 

 seouently, pota.sh manures ere 

 valued on one basis, viz., on the 

 amount of potash they contain. 



— Commercial Valuation of Man- 

 ures. — 



For the purposes of valuation, 

 the money value is sometimes ex- 

 pres.sed as the value per poimd of 

 the constituent, or, as is more 

 generallv the case, the price per 

 unit, when it is known as the 

 " unit value." This unit value 

 represents the value per ton of the 

 manure for each one per cent, of 

 the constituent present. — lancoln 

 Journal. 



