1056 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



plots which had previously been dressed with potash salts continued to 

 grow inferior crops until the plantation was exhausted. 



For the ' Paxton ' plantation no potash was directly applied, but the 

 plant was grown on plots which had been previously manured with 

 potash for other crops. The ground, however, had of course been 

 thoroughly dug and cultivated between the last application of potash and 

 the planting of the Strawberries, and in this case no appreciable deleterious 

 effect was found on the plots that had received potash. 



We made, however, in 1898 another plantation of Strawberries 

 (variety ' Royal Sovereign '), for the special purpose of further testing the 

 question of the effect of potash salts. This plantation consisted of two 

 plots only, both manured with 25 loads of London dung per acre, with 

 phosphates (6 cwt. superphosphate per acre in 1899 and 10 cwt. basic slag 

 in 1900), and with 2 cwt. of nitrate of soda per acre. One plot received 

 in addition 1 cwt. of sulphate of potash per acre, and the other none. We 

 gathered crops from this plantation in 1899 and in 1900, after which the 

 plots became irregular and the plant was grubbed. The results were as 

 follows : — 



STRAWBERRIES (' Royal Sovereign '). 



Animal manuring per acre 



Average annual yield 

 of Strawberries per 

 acre over two seasons 

 (1899 and 1900) 





lbs. 



25 loads Dung, Phosphates, and 2 cwt. Nitrate of Soda (without 







3,304 



25 loads Dung, Phosphates, and 2 cwt. Nitrate of Soda (with 







2,884 



Not only was the crop in both years distinctly smaller where sulphate 

 of potash was applied, but it was also appreciably later. 



On the whole our experience leads us at present to recommend for 

 Strawberries a moderate dressing — not more than 25 loads (12^ tons) per 

 acre — of London dung, together with a good dressing of phosphates and 

 an early dressing of 2 cwt. of nitrate of soda per acre. 



We have already referred to the question of earlincss. It is to be 

 remembered that this is a very important factor in the valuation of the 

 Strawberry crop. It is, indeed, of much greater moment than total 

 weight, since the market value of the fruit is very much greater at the 

 beginning than at the end of the very short Strawberry season, the price 

 per pound diminishing rapidly as the fruit becomes more abundant. 

 We have found that the dressing we recommend gives, on the average, 

 not only the best crop but also the earliest crop; and the average increase 

 in crop obtained by the use of such a chemical dressing as that above 

 mentioned, in addition to a light dressing of dung, represents a much 

 greater increase in the money value of the fruit yielded than is indicated 

 by its mere total weight. A striking instance of this may be given from 

 the record of our crop of ' President ' Strawberries in the year 1898, one 

 of the heaviest Strawberry years of recent times. In that year the plot 

 dressed only with light dung gave the enormous crop of 4 tons 4 cwt. 

 per acre. When this dressing was supplemented by chemical fertilisers 



