JuL^? 1, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
63 
ARTIFICIAL MANUEES FOR FRUIT CULTURE. 
The subject of fruit-growing for profit is one that 
has during the last few years been attracting 
increasing attention, partly owing to the hope that 
it may prove a means of bettering the condition of 
the cultivator of land, and partly to the growing 
demand for fruit as an article of food. Evidence of 
the growing importance of fruit farming is supplied 
by the activity which may be observed in the manu- 
facture of chemical manures. It appears that to- 
day the balance of opinion is against the total re- 
placement, of natural bv artificial manure, but many 
high authorities agi-ee that a large proportion many 
be so substituted with advantage to the crop, and 
with economy to the cultivator. We are interested 
in observing' that chemists of good standing are 
recognising the fact that, with profit to themselves 
and advantage to horticultural industry, they may 
devote serious attention to the chemical aspect of 
cultivation. It is significant that Mr. H. Brunner, 
the president of the Liverpool section of the Society 
of Chemical Industry, chose for his chairman's address 
the other evening the subject of artificial manures 
for fruit culture. And we congratulate the society 
on an occasion like this, that they can turn aside 
from the discussion of matters which, perhaps, are 
only interesting to the scientist strictly so called, to 
the consideration of a subject which is really of 
national importance. 
Mr. Brunner, in the course of his long address, 
referred to his own experiments made on the culti- 
vation of strawberries. He stated that, by employing 
chemical manm-es, far less potash, phosphoric acid, 
and ni'rogen is required per acre than is the case 
with ordinary farmyard or stable manures, as, owing 
to their soluble form, they penetrate the soil, more 
rapiiily »nd deeply. . , . , 1 1 j 
With regard to the requirements of 1 acre oi land 
planted with apple trees, it was stated that 20 tons 
of farmyard manure would be necessary once m 
three years, whilst the necessary ingi-eJients con- 
tained therein would be supplied by the yearly 
use of 5001b. of kainit (containing l.S§ per cent, of 
potash), 120 lb, of superphoshate (containing IG per 
cent of soluble phosphoric oxide), and 360 lb. of 
nitrate of soda, or a total for the three years of 
26 cwt. of material. From these data it is evident 
that in certainty of effect, in convenience of handling, 
and in distribution over the soil, chemical manures 
possess distinct advantages. 
It must not be supposed, however, that Blr. 
Brunner is entirely biassed towards manuring by 
strictly chemical means an l methods ; he does not 
recommend the complete discarding of farmyard 
manure, but rather the adoption of some system 
of rotation of manures, such as that advocated by 
Wagner of Darmstadt for the cultivation of vines, 
in which farmyard manure is supplied in the first 
year, and supplemented by chemical manure only m 
the second, third, and fourth years. 
It has been urged against chemical manures that 
they render the soil poorer in organic matter, whilst 
farmyard manure has the reverse effect, but it has 
beeu shown by Joulie {Mercure Scietitijique, Suppk- 
ment du Moniteur Scientlfique. June, 1892), that the 
more abundant harvests produced by the use of 
chemical manures have a larger proportion of residues 
in roots and otherwise in the soil, and consequently 
that there is no impoverishment, but an increase in 
the quantity of organic matter. 
By the use of chemical manur. s each ingredient 
cm be adjusted to the requirements of the crops, 
which is obviously not thi' case with natural ma- 
nures ; whilst Ville has shown (Ville on AiUficiul 
Maiiure-f, translated by W. Crookes, p. 105) that more 
than one-third of the nitrogen contained m the latter 
is lost to the soil on account of the decomposition 
which the manure must first undergo before it can 
exercise any beneficial action. The cost of carriage 
and of distribution on the land is also favourable to 
the employment of chemical manures. 
Superphosphate is the most suitable form of phos- 
plKnic acid for the fruit-grower, and it fiu'ther has 
the important advantage of supplying a considerable 
quantity of a soluble lime-salt necessary for the 
building-up of healthy trees. Finely- ground basic- 
slag is also likely to prove of great value, since it 
contains 18 per cent, of phosphoric acid combined 
with lime in a fairly soluble form. The latter should 
be applied in larger proportionate quantity than the 
former, and will be found especially useful in pre- 
paring the ground before planting young frait trees. 
Kainit affords the cheapest form of easily-soluble 
potash, but it only contains about 1.3 per cent, of 
potash, and as much as 40 per cent, of sodium 
chloride (common salt). Nitrate of soda is the best 
and most economical nitrogen manure for fruit 
cultivation ; sulphate of ammonia is less suitable. G. 
— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
The Respieation of Plants when Injured. — Some 
curious experiments have recently been conducted 
by Herr Stich upon a large number of plants, in 
order to ascertain the effect of injury (from mere 
scratches to complete cutting up) on their respira- 
tion. He noticed in every case that there was an 
increased separation of carbonic acid gas when the 
plants thus had their tissues damaged. As might 
have been expected, various plants and their various 
parts behaved differently with regard to the extent 
and duration of this increased secretion of carbonic 
acid. — Ihid. 
CEYLON EXPORTS AND DISTRIBUTION, 1893: 
Ob ^ 
CO o 03 ca 05 p 
O ; e- TP X o 
O . so r-* TO 
0000 
eo .a* Ci 
; ^ ao 
* C4 
^ I'. 
O-T ^ CO o 
CO D* O ^ 
. ^ o ; «> 10 
00 S 
M O O CO O 
i~t o o 00 O 
o : to GO CO 
r-t , — ' m CO 
o ^ 00 
O CO OD 
■rtt 'rH la <0 
to O 00 OJ 
C* CO 
00 CO CO 
t>- CD la o 
C-l « rH Cfl 
0000000 
0000000 
• tC to O CO O U3 
CT i-i O CO ^ 
; ic <x> 
5 o 
O; 09 Oi o 
O OJ 
« ^ ^ rH 
CO «D CO 
cn CD •-> o 
c<» N cc 
o CM ca 
« ^ ^ 
I ocoosG^c^OiTiOO oicocflcae^t^cooso 
) X) r- Oi Cl 
-:oco — oio-ft^ 
■<oatoeD3i'-HCi»-» 
> en ci CO 'O fH oo 
O CO w t " ' 
- U3 X> in 
in o r 
; to ; 
i c-1 T-« e 
Cm 
SH 
2<« 
(N 00 OS eo 
« CO OS to 
— Ut- 
lA O CO U3 
i-H 3i iQ 
ca o c» 
O Tfi — CO 
t-i Oi rji 
_ -q' fO co^^i 
CO C* ro~cb 
(M CO m M 
« « lO CO 
O X> OS 
T. 53 
CO —« to 01 
S -£) 40 
^- QO Oi 
ITS O 00 
(M i-» 
:C0 "5 <M 
P4 J 
D" 05 O 0> CO 
I— CS 
O t-co 
C4 CO CO tC 
m CO x- 
iH i-( CO Cfl 
0 -^a" L-i 
01 00 e4 00 
o -t» CM 
O CO X> -J 
I 
: CO =^ o 
83 
o 000 
a.OQQQ 
