110 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 3, 1882. 
veined with purple. It flowers very freely during the summer 
months, forming a very pretty plant. Native of Spain. 
E. romanutn .—A pretty little species, resembling a miniature 
E. Manescavi. It grows in tufts. Leaves alternately pinnate ; 
leaflets ovate-oblong, serrated, hairy. Peduncle 6 inches high, 
umbellate. Flowers half an inch or rather more in diameter, bright 
pink. This is a biennial species, rarely lasting more than two 
seasons ; but it is easily raised from seed, and it readily esta¬ 
blishes itself where introduced. It is a native of Italy, and 
Linnaeus, who first described it under the name of Geranium 
romanum, states that it was frequently found in the streets of 
Rome. 
E. Reichardi (E. chammdryoides).—This is the dwarfest of all 
the species here enumerated—not more than 2 to 3 inches high. 
Leaves roundish-cordate, variously lobed, half to three-quarters of 
an inch across, on very slender petioles. Flowers solitary, on 
slender stalks, very freely produced, half an inch across, white 
with radiating pink lines, with regular ovate petals. It thrives well 
on the rockery, forming compact tufts clinging close to the soil, 
flowering from June through the summer months. It is a native 
of the island of Minorca, from whence it was introduced into 
France by a gentleman named Reichard, in honour of whom 
Professor Murray named it. It is still a scarce plant, although it 
was cultivated by nurserymen in the neighbourhood of London 
a century back under the name of Geranium acaule, and a figure 
of it appears in the “Botanical Magazine,” plate 18, under the 
name of G. Reichardi.—N. 
REVIEW OF BOOK. 
Report of the Proceedings of the Sussex Association for the Im¬ 
provement of Agriculture. Season, 1881. 
Dogmatism in things scientific is not worth indulging in, for 
what is accepted as fact to-day is to-morrow shown to be 
fallacious. A year or two ago phosphates in manures were 
reckoned as of little or no value, and only acid-treated phosphates 
considered of use for plants. The Aberdeenshire experiments, 
conducted by an able and original chemist, Mr. Thomas Jamieson, 
dealt the first blow to the old theory—for it never was more than 
a theory, though universally accepted as proved fact, and acted 
on as such. The most recent work on the use and manufacture 
of artificial manures places dissolved phosphate at 4.?. dd., and 
undissolved mineral phosphate at Is. Space will notpe?^mit us, in 
the present instance, to give even a short resume of the Aberdeen¬ 
shire experiments, but the one thing they proved above everything 
else was that undissolved phosphate is, for the crop to which it is 
applied, very nearly equal to dissolved, and in certain circum¬ 
stances even quite equal, and not a whit behind over a rotation ; 
while the continual use of phosphates treated with sulphuric acid 
had a tendency to produce disease, so that on the wnole undis¬ 
solved phosphate is preferable to dissolved, independent of its 
greater cheapness. 
The report before us bears out in a wonderful manner the 
Aberdeenshire experiments. Some doubted, many denied that 
the Aberdeen experiments were conclusive ; but here in Sussex, 
in a different climate, in different soils, the self-same answers are 
given to the same questions. Here, too, the manufacturing 
chemists have been shown to be in error and it has been shown 
that much money is being annually thrown away. 
From the animated discussion lately conducted in these columns 
cn the subject of artificial manures, we feel assured that our 
readers will be interested in a few of the main facts brought to 
the surface by the Sussex investigations. Indeed the matter is of 
national importance, as is shown by the following quotation :— 
“ Of roots only, not taking into account the Wheat crop, there 
were about 71,000 acres in Sussex, and assuming that out of 30.?. 
an acre one-third, or 10s. an acre, could be saved ” (that is by the 
use of the cheaper or undissolved phosphate), “the saving to 
Sussex would be £35,000 annually.” If this sum be multiplied 
by every such county in the kingdom the importance of the 
subject becomes evident at once. 
One of the ascertained benefits resulting from the use of dis¬ 
solved phosphate over undissolved is that it gives the plants the 
advantage of a quicker start where only chemical manures are 
used. Although this is the case it is shown in the report before 
us that dissolved phosphate has a tendency to fail towards the 
close of the season, while the undissolved holds on, and in the end 
gives equal and in some instances even superior results. For 
Turnips it was found that the manure that gave the best results 
was steamed bone powder and ground coprolite. At Preston 
the unmanured portion gave a crop of 9 tons 14 cwts. With pure 
dissolved bones costing 63s. 9 d., 11 tons 4 cwts. resulted. Dis¬ 
solved coprolite of equal value gave 9 tons 19 cwts.; undissolved 
coprolite costing 33s. 9^. gave very nearly equal results, while a 
mixture of undissolved coprolite mixed with sulphate of lime 
gave 12 tons 8 cwts. The only two of these that can be compared 
are the first and the last, and under the old system of valuing the 
last would be considered next to useless, yet it proved superior. 
In some instances the manures were tested along with a pre¬ 
cautionary mixture. In such cases—and these give the most 
reliable results—the economy of using undissolved phosphates is 
brought out. To produce 14 tons 7 cwts. 100.?. Id. worth of ma¬ 
nure was needed when dissolved coprolite was used, but when 
undissolved coprolite and bone flour was substituted—the mixture 
costing 57 s. 9d .—the result was 14 tons 2 cwts., or very nearly 
the same. 
The experiments show that artificial manures alone do not 
prove so suitable as when coupled with farmyard manure ; that, 
valuable as they undoubtedly are, they are more to be relied on 
as auxiliaries than when employed by themselves, especially in 
seasons of drought. At Preston 25 tons of farmyard manure gave 
15 tons 5 cwts. of Swedish Turnips, while 12i gave 13 tons 17 cwts. 
Four portions were partially dressed with farmyard manure at 
the rate of 12^ tons, each further fertilised with different artifi¬ 
cials. One plot, in addition to the farmyard manure, was treated 
with commercial dissolved bones, costing 45.?., and the result was 
14 tons 2 cwts. With ground coprolite?, bone flour, and sulphate 
of lime, costing 28.?. 8?f., the result was 17 tons 5 cwts.—a very 
great difference in cost and in results. When to this latter mix¬ 
ture was added potash and magnesia 19 tons 16 cwts. was the 
result, proving that it is not always safe to assume that there is 
enough of these substances in even fertile soils ; yet this is just 
what is almost always done. At the same time only a moderate 
allowance should be made to begin with, and cautiously increased, 
for too much may do mischief, as is proved by the fact that when 
more potash and magnesia was added to the above the produce 
was reduced 1 ton 10 cwts.—not a paying experiment. 
All the soils operated on were poor, but that at Hassock’s Gate 
was a sheer sand containing hardly any traces of aDy plant food 
after the black surface had been removed. On this startling and 
exceedingly instructive results were obtained—results at once 
proving the necessity of everything being added to some soils, 
and that phosphates by no means require to be rendered soluble. 
When no manure was applied the seeds germinated but made no 
progress whatever. When everything except phosphorus was 
given the result was hardly different, the produce hardly amount¬ 
ing to half a ton per acre. When phosphate—even as ground copro¬ 
lite—was added the produce at once went up to 20 tons an acre : 
truly a wonderful result, and such as must convince everyone of 
the value of undissolved mineral phosphate. As Mr. Jamieson 
remarks, anyone who still persists in doubting, “the doubt must 
be an integral and inseparable part of his constitution. If those 
who have little or no difficulty in accepting the fact nevertheless 
lean to soluble phosphate as a superior form, they will be confirmed 
in their belief by these experiments, but they will see that the 
superiority is not one to lay much store by. If we were to ven¬ 
ture on prediction, based on former experiments, we should say 
that as time passes the superiority will decrease and disappear, 
and that the flush at the outset will give place to disease in the 
end.” 
Some interesting facts are brought out by the experiments with 
potash salts, and one discovery has been made. With everything 
applied except potash the average weight from each plot was 
38 59 lbs.; when the carbonate was applied only 36-50 was the 
result, thus confirming the former experiments of several chemists, 
and once more proving that the value put upon the carbonate of 
potash (as found in wood ashes) by gardeners to be not well 
founded. When potassic phosphate was added the result was 
40'52 fbs. ; potassic sulphate gave 40 69 lbs., or a little more than 
the phosphate ; potassic nitrate gave 72-94 lbs., a great increase 
due to the presence of the nitric acid doubtless, but once more 
confirming the value of potassic nitrate (nitre). With potassic 
chloride the produce was nil—it killed the plants. The results of 
this particular set of experiments go to prove that Turnips on 
fertile soil do not want potash, for even when its presence could 
hardly be detected a good crop resulted even when it was with¬ 
held. As its addition on other plots gave an increase we may 
suppose that its use on particularly barren sands might be repaid. 
The destructive effect of potassic chloride when applied to land 
deficient in organic remains was well illustrated on all the plots 
to which it was applied at Hassock’s Gate. We will give the 
result in Mr. Jamieson’s own words. “ ‘There is something wrong 
with No. 9,’ said the superintendent. ‘Is it not No. 12?’ ‘No.’ 
‘Nor No. 8?’ ‘No, it's No. 9.’ I had expected No. 12 (no 
potash) to be backward ; No. 8 (sulphate) turning out ill would 
not have surprised me. I had doubts about No. 6 (carbonate), 
