1052 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



yield of fruit. In two out of the three years, however, this increase was 

 very considerably exceeded by the use, in place of the extra dung, of a 

 liberal dressing of chemical fertilisers. 



The use of chemical fertilisers alone (that is to say, without dung) 

 has not on the average given such satisfactory results as when their use 

 was combined with that of dung. 



The average comparative effect of extra dung and of chemical 

 fertilisers used in addition to a smaller quantity of dung is as follows : — 



Average annual increase of fruit per acre, over three years, 



obtained by doubling 25 loads of Dung per acre . . 690 lbs. 



Average annual increase of fruit per acre, over three years, 

 obtained by supplementing 25 loads of Dung per acre with 

 Phosphates, Potash Salts, and 4 cwt. Nitrate of Soda per 

 acre 850 lbs. 



Average excess of fruit per acre in favour of chemical 



fertilisers as a supplement to light dunging . . . 160 lbs. 



Perhaps, however, the most remarkable point brought out in the 

 experiments is the great influence of potash salts on this crop. This 

 remarkable influence of potash salts will be seen on every plot in each of 

 the three years. Averaging the whole of the potash and non-potash 

 plots, we get the following results : — 



Average yield of fruit per acre over three years of four plots 

 receiving Phosphates and Nitrate of Soda but no Potash 

 Salts 817 lbs. 



Average yield of fruit per acre over three years of four plots 

 receiving Phosphates and Nitrate of Soda and also Potash 

 Salts 1,411 lbs. 



Average increase of fruit per acre due to the use of 1 cwt. 



Sulphate of Potash, costing 10s., per acre . . . 594 lbs. 



In the case of the crops grown on the well-manured plots, it should 

 be stated that the increase is not so much in the number of berries 

 produced as in their size and fineness. For instance, it was found in 

 one trial that a pound of fruit grown on the plot manured with 25 loads 

 of dung per acre contained 128 Gooseberries ; while a pound of the fruit 

 grown with a dressing of dung supplemented with phosphates, potash 

 salts, and nitrate of soda, averaged only 84 Gooseberries ; the individual 

 berries, therefore, being on the average half as large again in virtue of the 

 extra manuring. 



Currants (Black and Red). 



Our plantations of Currants bore first in 1900, but the plants were too 

 immature and the crop altogether too small to be worth recording. In 

 11)02 the Currants, both Black and Red, were completely cut up by frost 

 and not worth picking. In 1901, however, we gathered fair crops, con- 

 sidering the extreme youth of the plantation. The following are the 

 results. Each full plot is one-fiftieth of an acre in area. 



