628 



Experiments in Fruit Growing. [Jan., 



of the manures on the strength of less than three or four years' 

 results. 



One of the most important lessons brought out in the report 

 was that the modern farmer, if he is to be successful, must to a 

 certain extent be an experimentalist. An experimental station, 

 it is pointed out, may determine facts of fundamental importance, 

 and may indicate the direction in which special observations for 

 each locality should be made ; but as the observations at such a 

 station must necessarily be confined to the particular soil on 

 which the station is situated, there must be many details 

 dependent on the peculiarities of other soils which cannot there 

 be ascertained. These should be determined by each farmer 

 for himself. An experiment, to the ordinary farmer, often 

 consists in trying some advertised manure, probably during one 

 season only, and probably also on the whole of a field which 

 may often be ill-adapted to the purpose. The result of such an 

 experiment (which may be exceptional owing to some excep- 

 tional character of the season) may lead him either to adopt 

 that manure as infallible or reject it and abuse experiments 

 generally. 



For a grower to obtain information of real value, the report 

 points out that some uniform field, or portion of a field, should 

 be selected, and one part of it treated with one dressing and the 

 rest with some other dressing, repeating the treatment for two 

 or three seasons, and, perhaps, reversing the treatment in the 

 case of the two portions. The results would show which dressing 

 paid best. The experiment might cost a few shillings extra in 

 labour and an hour or so in calculations, but would probably be 

 worth many pounds a year in future crops. On a subsequent 

 occasion it would be easy to try a further experiment, such as a 

 combination of natural and artificial dressings and ascertain 

 whether any advantages accrued sufficient to compensate for 

 the additional expenditure. 



In the same way, when a grower wishes to lay down a fruit 

 plantation to grass, it would be easy, in most cases, to lay down 

 a portion of it only in the first place and ascertain what the 

 effect on the trees is and whether it would be advisable, or not, 

 to treat the whole plantation in a similar way. 



Such simple experiments or trials are not beyond the means 



