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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 26, Ig 
Mr. J. O’Brien sends the following particulars concerning it:— 
“ The history of Watsonia iridifolia O’Brieni is that a correspondent of 
mine in the Cape found it as a single plant among many hundreds of 
coloured Watsonias of all shades. My correspondent, who was an ardent 
lover of Cape bulbs, and knew them well, immediately recognised it as 
a new plant. He took it home and again flowered it, and all the people 
who knew such things marvelled at it, for it wa3 deemed impossible to 
ever get a snow white Watsonia. It increased to some six or eight 
bulbs or corms, which I acquired, and which at that time (last year) 
represented the entire stock. Still I had no faith in it, as I knew a 
variety of Watsonia called white, but which was not so—indeed neither 
white nor rose, but white washed with rose. In order to test mine 
severely, I put all the bulbs in one large pot, in turfy loam, and placed 
them outdoors in the shade. I had several spikes, two of them having 
several branches, and one 4 feet in height bearing fifty-four flowers, the 
largest of which were 3 inches across the segments, and 3 inches in 
length. Speaking from memory, it is the first instance I have seen of a 
snow white Irid. In old lists the species enumerated under Watsonia 
are various, and many of them mentioned as coming from the 
tropics, not Watsonias at all. One of the lists includes Anthericum 
Liliastrum.” 
TREATMENT OF SOILS AND MANURES. 
The tests that I gave on page 173, to prove the quantity of 
soluble matter or salts, give so far a fair and good test of what is 
really ready for plant life, and the different processes I gave also 
proved what could be made soluble by cultivation. Metallic 
elements in combination with oxygen form bases, and bases com¬ 
bined with acids form salts. This is the form that most of the 
plant foods take in the earth. Some of the salts are more soluble 
than others. I am convinced that it is of little importance whether 
the salts are soluble or not, and it is a surprise to me that most of 
the manure manufacturers should waste so much time and money 
in making most of the ingredients soluble, when the plant has 
the functions for making all insoluble salts soluble. 
As plants of different kinds require different salts, and more of 
them than others, it is necessary for the gardener to make the best 
use of what he has by him. This is one reason I have said so much 
against artificial manures, that the majority do not know the 
requirements of the plants and the deficiencies of the soil, and it is 
a thorough knowledge of these two things that all gardeners and 
farmers should cultivate, so as to make the best use of manures, 
whether artificial or otherwise, not to waste on one piece of ground 
what is useless, and what would be beneficial upon another. 
I will suppose for the present that the requirements of the 
plants are understood, and not the resources of the soil. Manure 
of the sort to suit the plant may be lavished upon the ground 
already rich in the particular elements required. 
In other instances the soil may be rich in some elements to suit 
certain plants, yet the ground may be planted with some crops 
that require more of a different element, while plants requiring 
those elements present may be planted on another piece of land 
very poor in them. If this knowledge is promoted thousands of 
pounds would not be wasted, but placed where required and in 
proper quantities. 
If the manures that are soluble are used with that knowledge, 
and also with the knowledge of when to apply and store them, it 
would take a great deal of responsibility away from those that 
make and recommend them. I have known superphosphates used 
by the ton on land full of calcium and phosphorus, and had good 
farm manure been used and the land well worked a balance might 
have been at the bank instead of the reverse, and when we consider 
that a thousandth part is all that is present in the dried plants, 
does it not seem absurd to waste so much on phosphorus ? 
It will be as well to give a few hints as to the manures, &c., 
recommended by me, the crops that they suit, and the different 
soils that require them. As Potatoes are one of our first crops in 
the garden, a good crop of fine Potatoes is of the first importance, 
though technically not one of the greatest difficulty. Potash 
forms an important ingredient, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, and 
a smaller quantity of magnesia. If the farm manure is treated as 
directed by me in my first article, and a good dressing is given the 
soil, together with a few barrowloads of the blood mixture and ash 
of waste heap, the soil will be prepared with sufficient food to pro¬ 
duce an excellent return of Potatoes. To a certain extent the 
parent soil acts a prominent part in the quality of the production, 
and if it is a stiff clay the best means to obtain good Potatoes in 
quality is to ridge the land, which acts as a drain for all the surface 
water ; of course, the land itself should be permanently improved, 
which if done in a proper way would soon enable the gardener 
to plant in good arable land. The ridge would have the opposite 
effect in dry weather. Good light soil suits Potatoes, but failing 
that the best use must be made of the others by judicious treatment. 
A similar manuring of the soil will suit Beans, as potash plays 
first part with over 40 per cent., and there is over 30 per cent, of 
phosphates, but if the soil is not calcareous an addition of a small 
quantity of gypsum will supply the required quantity of sulphuric 
acid and lime. Parsnips have over 36 per cent, of potash, 18 phos¬ 
phates, 11 of lime, &c. The same dressing will do for Parsnips 
with the addition of more clay or lime. Carrots, phosphates 
10 per cent., potash 32, soda 13, sulphuric acid, &c. As more soda 
is found in the ash of Carrots than in any of the foregoing, the 
ash of marine plants (Seaweeds) or the cesspool water or mud that 
drains from the kitchen or laundries will supply the extra quantity 
of sodium if not present in the soil. Cabbages contain in their 
ash phosphates 13 per cent., potash 12, lime 20, sulphuric acid 2T, 
soda 20, &c. This analysis shows the necessity of preserving all 
our manures in a proper or semi-dry state, and all the refuse from 
the garden should be mixed with it. There may be enough of 
most of the mineral elements in the soil for all practical purposes, 
but to be doubly sure it is as well to preserve all that is in the 
refuse and manure. Beet contains potash 24 per cent., soda 19> 
salt 24, phosphates 4, &c. If a good dressing of clay can be 
given to very light lands it will be found to supply a great want 
for this crop, with a fair dressing of ordinary manure or agricul¬ 
tural salt will not be a waste. Turnips have in their ash phosphates 
10 per cent., potash 28, salt 10, and lime 23. This proves that 
only two of the principal garden crops require any lime in large 
quantities, and if a dressing of lime or chalk is given for the benefit 
of Parsnips and Turnips together with the ordinary dressing suffi¬ 
cient lime will be left in the soil for all the crops to follow till one 
or the other is again planted or sown there. The dressing for 
these crops must depend a great deal upon the nature of the soili 
It would be a waste of time to put lime upon the soils already rich 
in them, and the only cases where it is required is on light soils full 
of humus and stiff clays to improve its texture. When we consider 
in some instances the ash is only half the per-centage of the plant, 
the quantity that need be supplied must be small, and more so 
when we know that ash left is not when in the plant capable of 
being thrown off into the atmosphere in a volatile state, but all the 
mineral that constituted the foundation of the plant remains fixed 
in the fire, and when we examine the soil and find it consists 
largely of mineral or inorganic elements it is not surprising that 
those who work the land most get the best results independent of 
what is put into it. 
I was on one estate seven years, and during that time noi» 
1 lb. of artificial manure was introduced, in fact no manure of any 
kind from outside, and the only manure procurable was long straw 
that horses had slept on once or twice. I now know to a certain 
extent that it was useless, as the soil was full of silica and did not 
require it from that source. This straw was mixed with leaves, 
and the cesspool water, which was the colour of stout, was thrown 
over till it presented the appearance of well trodden farmyard 
manure. There was plenty of it, and it was supplied to the land 
in good dressings. Finer crops of all sorts of vegetables and fruit 
could scarcely be produced. I may say the same with all classes 
of indoor plants, which receive nothing more than the liquid and a 
little soot. Finer Crotons, Dracaenas, in fact all stove plants, with 
Pelargoniums, Strawberries, Cinerarias, Calceolarias, Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, and all classes of indoor plants could not be seen anywhere, 
and Peaches and Grapes were excellent. On another estate any 
quantity of guano, clay, bonemeal, Standen’s, and almost every 
kind of manufactured manure, with nitrate of soda, sulphate of 
ammonia were used, yet taking all round nothing like the return 
was given notwithstanding all this expense ; in fact, if the supply 
was not constant a difference in the plant was perceptible at once. 
Some of the soils that gardeners have to use are more often 
than not procured from some out-of-the-way corner, and ara 
practically barren. This soil needs well mixing with something 
that has been exposed to the air by constant working, and with 
some manure rich in nitrogenous matter. Plenty of leaf soil is 
one of the finest ingredients to mix with all soils, as it would 
supply most of the elements required. —G. A. Bishop. 
I think Mr. Bishop is unscientific and inconsistent in his treat¬ 
ment of this subject, as I may be able to explain, though I do not 
intend to take all his statements and reply to them seriatim. In 
the first place he classes soils as active, dormant, and inactive or 
latent ; then goes on to say the larger part of the soil being; 
inorganic proves that the mineral elements are far in excess of that, 
required by plants, and that it is possible to exhaust them by con¬ 
tinuous cropping without a sufficient return of these elements. 
How he can come to these conclusions after having previously 
stated that one part of the soil is a mass of elements in a latent 
