JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 24, 1883. ] 
419 
24th 
Tn 
Royal Society at 4.30 P.M. 
25th 
F 
Quekett Club at 8 P.M. 
26th 
s 
Royal Botanic Society at 3.45 r.M. 
27th 
Sun 
1st Sunday after Trinity. 
28th 
M 
29th 
Tu 
Brighton Aquarium Spring Show (two days). 
30th 
W 
Society of Arts at 8 P.M. 
SCIENCE IN CULTIVATION. 
iMONG the numerous remedial measures 
to which the “seven lean years” have 
given rise, as partial or entire specifics 
for the evils of hard times, none com¬ 
mends itself more forcibly to us than that 
which enforces a thorough knowledge of 
the nature and treatment of the soil, the 
composition of the plants we cultivate, the 
sources whence the ingredients of such composi¬ 
tion are derived, the deficiency of our own 
particular soil for the requirements of any crop, 
and the remedy. 
Quite recently Professor Jamieson expressed his 
conviction at a public meeting that three-fourths of 
cultivators were ignorant of these things, and it is the 
aim of the Sussex Association for the Improvement of 
Agriculture by science to enlighten ; and it has proved 
to demonstration that as soil differs greatly even upon 
the same formation, so must its treatment differ 
according to its requirements in order to cultivate it 
profitably. It has done much more than this, for it 
has shown that land declared to be so poor that a 
decided loss attended its culture under the old hit-or- 
miss system, could by careful scientific treatment not 
only be made to pay all expenses but to yield a fair 
profit, or, to put it more forcibly, that profitable culti¬ 
vation is possible on the poorest and foulest land, and 
that unprofitable cultivation is the fault of the culti¬ 
vator and not of the land. In selecting land for trial 
poor land was taken in preference to rich, in order that 
the work might be thorough and its result really use¬ 
ful. Careful and full diaries have been kept of the 
work done at each station in different parts of the 
county, and they are printed fully in the annual re¬ 
port, together with clear statements of every detail of 
the crops, soil, and manure. 
Nitrogen and phosphorus are found to be two great 
wants in Sussex soils. In supplying these wants 
artificially the effect of phosphates proved to be more 
lasting than was supposed, beneficial effects being 
clearly visible the second year. Important as this fact 
is generally, it is doubtless so to members of the 
Association, who, under the advice of Professor Jamie¬ 
son, and by the light of his teaching, have applied to 
the land 3 cwt. of finely ground coprolites and 3 cwt. 
of steamed bone flour per acre. This dressing is a 
heavy one, recommended for a poor soil at the outset, 
and will be reduced subsequently to about 2 cwt. of 
each sort of manure. '1 he action of coprolites alone, 
even when reduced to dust, is not sufficiently quick; 
mixed with the bone flour it answers admirably. 
Steamed bone flour contains 55 to 70 per cent, of 
phosphate, and is therefore superior to natural bone, 
which contains only 50 to 55 per cent, of phosphate, 
and cannot be ground so finely as the steamed bone. 
This is worth remembering. 
It may be fairly asked, Of what use are the Sussex 
experiments to cultivators in other parts of the 
country ? And as fairly and usefully it may be answered 
that the results obtained are in many instances so 
clear and unmistakeable, and of such great practical 
value, that not only are they of general importance as 
an incentive to the formation of other county associa¬ 
tions, but also to persons individually, as showing them 
that such knowledge well applied is profitable. It 
also shows them how to help themselves in a com¬ 
paratively inexpensive manner by ascertaining the 
deficiencies of their soil and supplying them, and it is 
hoped the lesson indicated will not be lost or overlooked 
by cultivators generally. 
Having learnt that the essential elements of plants 
are potash, nitrogen, lime, magnesia, sulphur, iron, 
and phosphorus, every cultivator in the garden and on 
the farm can follow the advice given by Professor 
Jamieson—namely, “ Procure a small quantity of each 
kind of manure and apply it thus : To one patch of 
land no manure whatever; to another patch of land 
all the essential elements ; and to six others all the 
essential elements excepting one, and that excepted 
one being a different element in each case.” Properly 
there ought to be seven such partially manured plots, 
but of the seven essential elements iron is required 
only in traces, and soils always contain more than 
enough. This is what he calls making the soil analyse 
itself. It clearly does so sufficiently well for all practical 
purposes, and two or three years’ careful trials, or even 
those of a single favourable season, give a certainty of 
aim and purpose to our work such as nothing else 
can do. 
Although great prominence has been given to the 
relative value of manures, yet no essential detail of 
culture has been overlooked. The trial land was well 
drained first of all, and then thoroughly worked to get 
a good seed bed. This primary drainage is of at 
least equal importance with the correct application of 
manure, for without it our efforts will prove compara¬ 
tively futile. Last summer I saw a large field of 
Wheat stunted in growth and of that sickly yellow hue 
which shows unmistakeably that “ something is wrong 
below.” What was it ? no manure ? No, that could 
not be the cause, for an excepi ion ally heavy dressing 
of forty-five cartloads of farmyard manure per acre 
had been given it. How were the drains acting ? The 
land, a close tenacious soil, was undrained! Cold, 
sodden, inert, how could the Wheat grow in it ? It did 
grow, but how slow and feeble was that growth in com¬ 
parison to what it might have been had the land been 
drained. Let not the teaching of this experience be 
overlooked. It is of importance to gardeners as well 
as farmers. Land must be drained or it cannot be 
fertile. Far better to incur the loss of a little nitrogen 
by overdrainage, even though it were double the quantity 
shown by the Hothamsoed experiments, than to have 
none at all. The land referred to forms part of a large 
estate, and is in the hands of a cultivator who is per¬ 
fectly alive to the importance of drains, but he cannot 
get them. It is, however, reasonable to suppose, that 
as the primary importance of drainage becomes fully 
No 162.—VOL. YI., Third Series. 
No. 1808 —Vol. LXiX., Old Sdriss. 
