1000 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



dung is a necessary outcome of the general system of farm management, 

 and is, indeed, an important part of the farmer's business ; and to suggest 

 that the. use of such dung should be dispensed with or diminished would 

 of course be ridiculous. But in almost all our market-garden districts 

 farmers, as we have already said, yearly spend very large sums of money 

 in the purchase of town dung and rely mainly upon it for fertilising 

 their soil. 



It may be said at once that the result of our experience, thus far, 

 is to show that, for certain crops, the purchase of dung is extravagant, 

 as its place can well be taken by chemical fertilisers ; and that, for most 

 other crops, although the moderate use of dung often presents great 

 advantages and should not be omitted, yet the use of the large dressings 

 of purchased dung ordinarily applied is grossly extravagant. Our experi- 

 ments will be found to show that the actual plant-feeding properties of 

 dung can usually be purchased more economically in a concentrated form, 

 the chief value of town dung for market-garden purposes depending 

 rather upon its mechanical and physical effects. That these are some- 

 times of great value, especially in seasons of drought, has been already 

 admitted ; but our experience shows that this advantage may in most 

 cases be sufficiently well obtained, and with much greater economy, by the 

 use of much smaller dressings of dung than are often applied, a sufficient 

 quantity of chemical fertilisers being used in addition in order to supply 

 a proper quantity of plant food. 



The following diagram gives the general scheme of experiment 

 followed in the case of most of the crops during the first five years. 



Each of our vegetable and fruit crops (with a few exceptions) occupies 

 each year a section divided into six plots, and, as far as can conveniently be 

 arranged, the crops on the different sections are varied in accordance with 

 recognised principles of rotation. 



A 



LIGHT DUNG and PHOSPHATES 



with 



1 cwt. nitrate per acre. 



B 



LIGHT DUNG and PHOSPHATES 



with 



2 cwt. nitrate per acre. 



No Potash. 



Potash. 



No Potash. 



Potash. 



C 



NO DUNG J PHOSPHATES 



with 



4 cwt. NITRATE per acre. 



D 



LIGHT DUNG and PHOSPHATES 



with 



4 cwt. nitrate per acre. 



o Potash. 



Potash. 



No Potash. 



Potash. 



E 



P 



LIGHT DUNG 



HEATS DUNG 



(25 loads, or 12£ tons, 

 per acre). 



(50 loads, or 25 tons, 

 per acre). 



During later years the dressings of nitrate of soda have in a large 

 number of cases been increased according to the following scheme : — 



