310 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



December, 



The Causes of Infertility. 



The following extract is from the 

 Presidential Address delivered by F. 

 B. Guthrie before the Agricultural 

 Section of the Australasian Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, 

 Melbourne, 1 <1 1 3 :— 



In all these cases we have toxic 

 conditions which are quite distinct 

 from the infertile condition brought 

 about by soil-exhaustion, conditions 

 which are not dependent upon the 

 richness or poverty of the soil, and 

 which no amount of manuring in the 

 ordinary sense will remedy. Indeed, 

 when we consider the large stores of 

 plant food in average and even in 

 poor soils, the comparatively small 

 proportion removed by even the most 

 exhausting crop, and the fact that 

 this store of plant food is being con- 

 stantly rendered available, it becomes 

 difficult to realize that a few years' 

 cropping can effect such a complete 

 removal of plant food as we must 

 assume to take place if the soil is ex- 

 hausted in the manner usually recog- 

 nised. 



As a matter of fact analyses of 

 European soils go to show that under 

 continuous cultivation there is little 

 or no differences in the mineral con- 

 tent of the soil. In short, the in- 

 ferior crop-producing power of a soil 

 after repeated cropping is due to 



The Hoover 

 Potato Digger 



READY FOR THE FIELD. 



Whv continue digging with forks 

 when you can secure the Hoover 

 ^lathine which will not only .save 

 labor and aching backs but Dig 

 vour Potatoes without damage ? 



Call earlv and inspect, or write us 

 for further particulars. 



Norman & Co., 



]'..\.\K STklCI'/r, ADKLAIDF,, 

 SOLE IMPORTERS. 



other and more obscure causes than 

 the simple depletion of the soil in 

 plant food. 



It is open to doubt whether such 

 a thing exists as an infertile soil, 

 that is one which will not give satis- 

 factory results under proper treat- 

 ment. Plants, we know, can be grown 

 in ignited sand or distilled water if 

 the proper nourishment is supplied. 

 The barren regions of the earth are 

 all capable of being made reproduc- 

 ti\e under proper treatment, witness 

 the alkali-lands of Texas, and the 

 salt lands of U.tah. Even the desert 

 yields abundantly in the fortunate 

 places where springs occur or where 

 the land can be inundated by rivers. 

 On the other hand misapplied energy 

 may convert a fruitful country into 

 an unproductive one; and much of the 

 desert and sterile land has once been 

 fertile, and has been brought to its 

 present condition by unthrifty hus- 

 bandry. 



Travellers in Palestine tell us that 

 its numberless hills are covered with 

 the ruins of what have once been 

 populous cities, a certain sign that 

 been not only fertile, but cultivated to 

 provide food for the town populations. 



Sir Frederick Treves, the most re- 

 cent visitor, records his impressions 

 of this country in his work, "The 

 Land which is Desolate," contrasts 

 the promised land "that floweth with 

 milk and honey" with the "poverty 

 stricken, miserly, thread-bare coun- 

 try" of to-day. 



The plain on which the ruins of 

 Babylon now stand is still covered 

 with a network of old canals which 

 served both to irrigate and to drain 

 what was in ancient days extremely 

 fertile country, but which is now 

 divided between desert and marshes. 

 Herodotus testifies to the remarkable 

 fertility of Babylon in his time when 

 it was a great commercial centre. 



Profesor Heeren in his work on the 

 "Commerce, &c., of the Principal 

 Nations of Antiquity," tells us how 

 the discovery of a new path to India 

 across the ocean converted the great 

 commerce of the world from a land- 

 trade to a sea-trade, and thus Nineveh 

 "sunk to its original state of a stink- 

 ing morass and liarrcn steppe." 



'I ll is is that same Nineveh, the 

 capital of a country which its king 

 described as "a land of corn and 

 wine; a land of bread and vineyards; 

 a land of oil-olive, and of honey." 



There are many other instances 

 where great and populous centres 

 have flourished at the expense of the- 

 surrounding country which they have 

 finally impoverished and involved in 

 their own ruin; and this is a danger, 

 proba1)ly the greatest danger, with 

 which rural Australia is faced to-day. 



^ 



Iron Sulphate. 



Iron sulphate has the following 

 properties : (i; It is a direct and 

 indirect plant food ; (2) it retains 

 ammonia and phosphoric acid in 

 soils, and, it aids nitrification; (3) 

 under certain conditions iron sul- 

 phate (green vitriol) decomposes 

 water in the 'soil, liberating nas- 

 cent hydrogen. This hydrogen 

 combines with the nitrogen of the 

 air (present in the interstices of 

 the soil) forming ammonia ; (4) 

 nitric acid is retained in soils by 

 iron ; (5) in the case of those 

 plants which develop a large 

 amount of chlorophyll, iron sul- 

 phate is most beneficial ; (6) it has 

 been proved that when an " iron 

 sulphate solution is injected into 

 the sap of unhealthv trees, it acts 

 with beneficial effects " ; (7) a 10 

 per cent, solution of iron sulphate 

 destroys certain fungi* that attack 

 vines ; (8) iron sulphate prevents 

 chlorosis in trees, shrubs, etc. ; (9) 

 iron sulphate destroys the spores 

 of fungi, the foes of vegetation pre- 

 sent in dung, and it also fixes the 

 ammonia, preventing its evapora- 

 tion or loss; (10) iron sulphate, as 

 a top dressing, destroys moss n 

 orchards." — From " Manure for 

 fruit ttees," GrifTiths. 



♦ 



Apple Export Prospects. 



Messrs. G. A. Provost & Co., 

 Currie Street, Adelaide, advise re- 

 ceipt of the following : — 



By cablegram from their London 

 Selling Agents, Mijssrs. Nothard 

 and Lowe — 

 " Lowe returned from America 

 where late boxes of Apples will 

 be extremelv short. The p'ros- 

 pects for the opening for early 

 Australian apples consigned to 

 us appear excellent." 

 By Mail from their German 

 Agents — 



" We. want to say that prospects 

 for the com.ing season seem pro- 

 mising, as we have a poor crop- 

 in our country, and we hear at 

 the «ame time that United States 

 will have a very much smaller 

 one than last year." 



