834 A Demonstration of Intensive Cultivation, [feb., 



by submerging the cress and floating them off the surface. 

 Other plants which cause trouble are Pondweeds, Frogbit, 

 Procumbent Apium, Water Starwort, Brooklime, and Water 

 Thyme. 



The cultivator of the green-leaved cress has usually a larger 

 variety of weeds to contend with than the growers of the 

 brown-leaved variety, as in the former case many semi-aquatic 

 weeds are distributed by birds, and soon germinate on the 

 surface soil. 



There appear to be no fungoid diseases to which watercress 

 falls a prey, although growers speak of the verdigris disease ; 

 this, however, appears from careful observation to be nothing 

 but a discoloration or decay of the foliage due to its contact 

 with the excrement of waterfowl. 



A DEMONSTRATION OF INTENSIVE 



CULTIVATION. 

 Principal M. J. R. Dunstan, M.A., F.R.S.E. 



SoutkzEastern Agricultural College, Wye, Kent. 



The following record of an experiment in intensive cultiva- 

 tion is not put forward as either original or as due to any 

 special skill in management or marketing, but as a possible 

 suggestion to small holders for the utilisation of their oppor- 

 tunities for growing crops which can be marketed through 

 the ordinary wholesale or retail channels in small or large 

 quantities. The relation of the experience may evoke the 

 criticism that the results are due to an exceptional season and 

 exceptional conditions of sale. Exceptional seasons, how- 

 ever, occur nowadays with some frequency, and the conditions 

 under which the produce in this case was marketed did not 

 differ from those obtained by many alert and businesslike 

 producers. 



On the College farm each year are grown some 13 to 20 

 acres of potatoes, this area being devoted to earlies, mid- 

 season, and late varieties. In 1908 some 6 acres were set 

 with earlies in Wye field, the soil of which is a fairly deep 

 useful loam with the chalk some distance below, rented at 

 30s. per acre, and lying at an altitude of 160 feet and 

 unsheltered. The previous crop was oats, of which a yield 

 of 9j- qr. was obtained, and the land was in good heart and 



