AUGUST 1, 1902. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
_ America is the land of wonders. So 
wonderful, indeed, are the products of 
every form of industry that the compara- 
tively young American nation is a 
phenomenon in the national history of the 
‘world. The conservative Englishman 
looks askance with lifted eyebrows at most 
things American, and “Yankee notions’ is 
a phrase of ridicule amongst many. In 
spite of ridicule and incredulity on the part 
of the Britisher and all other nations, how- 
ever, the American nation has always to 
be reckoned with in every phase of Em- 
pire relationships, whether commercial, 
political, or any other consideration. 
After all, it is not in the least surprising 
that the world turns to America for infor- 
mation upon everything. Her success in 
competing in the world’s markets demands 
areason and an explanation. The reasons 
and explanations are invariably wrapped 
up in two words—‘natural resources.” 
We offer the suggestion, however, that this 
refrain is two for the Britisher and only 
one for the American. We mean that 
comparisons are an excuse for the lack of 
enterprise on the part of the Britisher, who 
fain would say that if they had the na- 
tural resources of the Americans every- 
thing would be different. While we do 
not wish in the least to disparage the Bri- 
tisher we cannot help feeling, in common 
with every other unprejudiced section of 
critics, that the natural resources of 
America are only equalled by the resource- 
fulness, enterprise, and energy of the 
people themselves. 
Tn no feature of their nation building is 
this more apparent than in her production 
from the soil. This is due to the magni- 
ficent organization of her agricultural de- 
partments. The Government stops at 
nothing in the matter of expense, and in 
the eduaction of their people to win riches 
from the soil. Every dollar they spend in 
this direction pays and repays itself over 
and over again, and it would be well for 
Australia to follow more closely the 
example of the Americans in this respect 
For this reason we feel bound to draw the 
attention of our readers to one phase of 
the work carried on at the United States 
Experimental Stations. Our references 
must necessarily be somewhat prescribed 
as “The Australian Gardener’ can only 
take in matters bearing within its scope 
But we have not the smallest doubt but 
that we shall find in that Scope informa- 
tion that cannot be obtained elsewhere 
which has not hitherto been brought under 
the notice of gardeners. 
‘In each of the States there the Govern- 
ment have an experimental station, and in 
some States two. These stations are worked 
upon an organised system from the cen- 
tral stations, and are controlled by a staff 
The United States Experiment Stations. 
— 
ie 
of first-class scientists and practical 
workers. The. work at each station i- 
carefully and systematically chronicled 
and reported in every detail to the head 
station. ‘These reports are printed and 
finally condensed into a complete record, 
printed and published for the general in- 
formation of producers. Nothing can 
pessibly escape the vigilance and scientific 
scrutiny of these experimentalists, and the 
information thus circulated is of incalcul- 
able benefit to gardeners, agriculturists, 
horticulturists, viticulturists, pastoralists, 
and, indeed, every conceivable industry of 
work dealing with production from the 
soil. Here, in reality, we find one of the 
chief factors of American greatness. © 
The editors of “The Australian Gar- 
dener” are gratified to think that they are 
now in a position to supply, monthly, to 
the readers of this journal, informa- 
tion culled from such a splendid source of 
reliable, useful, and interesting records. 
As large space as possible will be devoted 
to this work. 
Som Test FoR ONIons. 
A soil test with onions was continued 
this season (1901) with some fertiliser ap- 
plications used the previous year, i.e., dif- 
ferent combinations of nitrate of soda, dis- 
solved boneblack, and muriate of potash 
at the rate of 320, 640, and 320 lb. per 
acre respectively. This year the limed por 
tion of the plat, which yearly received the 
mixture of all three fertilisers, yielded 
nearly 500 bushels per acre of well-cured 
onions, while the unlimed portion pro- 
duced only 136.9 bushels. “Good crops 
were obtained only on those plats which 
received annual applications of potash. 
The limed portion of the plats veariy 
manured with muriate of potash alone 
produced 383 bushels per acre, as con- 
pared with 311 bushels for nitrate of soda 
aud potash, and 380 bushels for dissolved 
boneblack and potash. The effects cf 
potash far exceeded those of either of the 
other elements. The results further show 
that the use of muriate of potash makes 
the employment of lime absolutely neces- 
sary. Applications of muriate of potash 
and nitrate of soda without lime proved in- 
jurious. All plats received a ton of lime 
per acre. . 
EXPERIMENTS WITH PoraTors. 
The average results of the experiments 
with potatoes for several years at Ontario 
indicate that Empire State, Pearl of Savoy, 
American Wonder; Dempsey Seedling, and 
Rural New Yorker No. 2 are the best 
general varieties. Daisy, Rose New In- 
vicible, Paris Rose, Lrish Cups, Bovee, Six 
Weeks, White Elephant, and Ohio Junior 
yielded over 220 bushels per acre this sea- 
son. .Sprinkling cut seed potatoes with 
17 
gypsum or land plaster increased the yield 
16.4 bushels per acre. Cut potatoes planted 
on the same day they were cut yielded 
about 18 bushels more per acre than those 
planted four, five, and six days after cut- 
ting. The results of the distance experi- 
ments were in favor of planting 264 in. 
apart, with the sets 1 ft. apart in the row. 
Planting one set in each hill gave a better 
yield than planting two or four sets. per 
hill. 
Regarding the selection of seed potatoes, 
a Dakota report states that from four varie- 
ties of potatoes—Sunlit Star, Dakota 
Seedling, Trumbull, and Early Ohio—the 
largest and best nearly round and _ typical 
long-shaped tubers were selected from the 
bia and planted. The results obtained 
confirmed the previous conclusions that 
for form and quality of tuber the selection 
must be made in the field from the vine. 
It was found better, however, to select 
from the bin the shape desired than to 
make no selection at all. 
EXPERIMENTS witH FUNGICIDES UPON 
Poratoszs. : 
The author, Mr. C. D. Woods, of the 
Maine Station report, gives a series of ex- 
periments to demonstrate the value of 
Bordeaux Mixture when applied on a 
large scale, and also as a comparison be- 
tween freshly prepared Bordeaux Mixture 
and some of the ready preferred fungicides 
on the market. The plats were given. 
four sprayings with a freshly prepared 
Bordeaux Mixture consisting of 5 lb. cop- 
per sulphate, 5 lb. fresh lime, and 50 gal- 
lons of water. The applications of the 
fungicides were made at a cost of about 
10/6 per acre,-with a net profit in the re- 
turn of about £8/10 over the unsprayed 
plats. 
Beans. 
Experiments consisting of distance and 
variety tests. Drilling beans in rows 2 ft. 
apart gave the larger yield and an earlier 
crop than drilling in rows 3 ft. apart. In 
the variety test the Brown or Swedish 
bean stood first in yield, Dewey Navy se- 
cond, and California Wonder third. The 
Dewey Navy is an early variety, and selis 
well. The Great Northern and Aristook 
are a little earlier, but are not considered 
equal to the Dewey Navy on account of 
being dwarf and light-yielding varieties. 
TOMATOES. 
The reports upon tomatoes from the 
South Dakota Station are instructive, parti- 
cularly in view of the acknowledged fact 
that new strains of tomatoes seem to be 
desirable in Australia, or new method of 
treatment. The authorities from this sta- 
tio. report that plants started in cold 
frames compared favorably in yield and 
