680 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 8, 19U3. 
a bed of clay. It liad long been cultivated, but, correctly 
speaking, very poorly farmed, with the result that it continued 
to be a poor or infertile soil. This, however, is just the sort of 
laud for the making of experiments and determining the value 
of manures that may be applied to it by carefully calculating all 
the expenses attached to this particular kind of farming and 
reckoning up the returns in the value of crops obtained. The 
writers consider now that they have converted the held into> 
a fertile market garden. 
They do not question the utility of farmyard manure that has 
been derived from well-fed animals supplied with purchased 
feeding stuffs, but even in that case they consider- that the 
manure obtained is, a.s we should gather from their statements, 
that it might be spread over a greater area of ground with 
advantage, and the further necessary fertilisers supplied in the 
form of concentrated or artificial manures. The application 
of animal manures is kept in view for the mechanical' and 
physical advantages which it confers upon land, while, on the 
other hand, only a small quantity of concentrated manure is 
necessary, and these are usually cheap, while their cartage to 
the' farm is relatively a small item. We may here also state 
that the authors cropped the farm according to the recognised 
principles of rotation. 
With regard to phosphates, they make a statement that is 
interesting. Phosphatic manures are cheap, so- that in market 
gardening a hundredweight or two more or less of phosphates 
used per acre need not trouble the cultivator. No harm is 
likely to arise by giving excess of this particular form of 
manure. They have themselves varied the amount from 
-1 cwt. at the outset to 10 cwt. per acre recently. It may be 
stated, however, that 6 cwt. of superphosphate is the largest 
amount per acre they have used in this form, while the 10 cwt. 
consisted of basic slag, which has more recently come into use 1 , 
and may be more freely used without danger- or expense 1 . 
By way of illustrating some of their experiments, we may say 
that one was the manuring of a. plot of land at the rate 1 of fifty 
loads of London dung at a cost of £ 10 per acre. On an 
average of five years this land gave a return of 279 sieves of 
Brussels Sprouts. In another case the land was manured with 
phosphates, 4 cwt. of nitrate of soda, and potash at a. cost of 
£o 5s. per acre, and this gave a return of 292 sieves of Brussels 
Sprouts as the average of five years’ treatment! A sieve of 
Brussels Sprouts is 40 lb. 
Turning to Savoy Cabbages, we note that a plot of land 
was manured with 12J tons of London dung, 4 cwt. of super¬ 
phosphate, 4 cwt. of nitrate of soda, at a cost of £7 10s. per 
acre. This gave a crop of 18 tons 2 cwt. per acre of Savoy 
Cabbages. In another case, 121, tons of London duiig (twenty- 
tn e loads) was applied to land at a cost of ,£5 per acre. 
This gar e a. crop of 12 tons 6 cwt. of Savoys. The net. results 
of this are that nearly 6 tons extra, of Savoys were obtained 
at an extra cost of £2 10s. It will thus be seen that London 
dung without other aid was not. very potent as a fertiliser. 
The. heavier crop above mentioned was obtained by the addi¬ 
tional 4 cwt. each of nitrate of soda, and superphosphates. 
7 ot ^ n 8 * s here said as to how the manure had been made' or 
it; quality, but we should take it for granted that an article 
of average quality was used. 
In the case of Carrots and Parsnips, animal manure is 
applied to the previous crop, a plan for- which gardeners will 
.'o v ell able to assign a. reason,; these crops were, however, 
manured with artificial fertilisers. In the case of Parsnips, the 
heaviest crops were obtained from land to which fifty loads of 
London dung per acre were applied in the previous*year; to 
those having twenty-five loads of dung the previous year, with 
the addition of potash and nitrate of soda : and with the addi- 
ion oi phosphate's, potash, and nitrate of soda, the land having 
had twenty-five loads of dung the previous year. This last case 
might, he described as a complete manure. 
Death of Mr. Aunfier. —The death has taken place, at Gil- 
hng. near Richmond, of Mr. Wm. Aunfier, a well-known North 
Yorkshire nurseryman. 
Campanula persicifolia Moerheimi. 
(See Supplement.) 
The forms of the Peach-leaved Bellllower in gardens are now 
fairly numerous. They differ chiefly in the size and in being 
double or semi-double. The colour is usually restricted to blue 
and white, and they do not seem to vary much in this respect. 
The variety under notice is chiefly notable for the large size 
and widely expanded form of its semi-double pure white 
flowers; indeed, we should say that size is the chief feature 
which distinguishes the new comer from those which have been 
cultivated in gardens for many years past. The plant grows 
about 2 ft. high, and carries its flowers well erect on stout 
stalks, so that the latter are well adapted for cut-flower pur¬ 
poses. 
Like many other herbaceous plants, it well repays for liberal 
treatment. In the course of a year or two the patches get 
crowded wi.th crowns, with the result that the flower-stems de- 
Polyfodium miDioiDES ramo-cristatum. (See page 075.) 
teriorate and produce smaller flowers and fewer of them. To 
avoid this, the cultivator should prepare sites for the plant at 
least every other year, and even good results may be obtained 
if the plant is, annually subjected to lifting. When the soil 
has been well manured and dug, a few strong crowns may he 
planted at regular intervals apart, forming clumps. These 
will grow strongly and produce much larger flowers and more 
of them on a stem than plants that are simply allowed to crowd 
one another in the same place from year to year. There are, 
of course, those who can admire flowers of moderate size more 
than those that would seem excessive iu size, but that can easily 
be regulated by simply leaving the plants alone, merely keeping 
them clear of their neighbours. 
While the plant under notice may be grown in patches for 
ordinary border decoration, if required for cut-flower purposes, 
it can be grown in. line® or beds, which should be made up afresh 
once a year, or at least once every second year. 
Our Supplement will give an idea of the flowers of this hand¬ 
some new form which received an Award of Merit from the 
