242 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  17,  1898. 
a  favourite  route  with  numbers  of  visitors  who  do  not  care  to  face  the 
journey  by  road. 
Princetown  is  small,  but  it  occupies  a  remarkable  situation  nearly 
in  the  centre  of  Dartmoor,  and  its  elevation  above  sea  level  being 
something  like  1400  feet,  it  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  one  of 
the  highest  towns  in  Great  Britain.  Except  for  its  convenience  as 
a  centre  for  visitors  to  Dartmoor,  it  is  not  a  very  enticing  place,  for  it 
is  inseparable  from  the  great  prison  for  convicts,  which  darkens  the 
town  with  some  of  the  worst  shadows  of  human  life.  But  there  is  a 
bright  side  even  to  this,  for  it  is  astonishing  to  see  the  piles  of  sub¬ 
stantial  and  even  stately  structures  which  have  been  erected  by  convict 
labour.  With  all  the  cold  rigid  sternness  characterising  such  a  place, 
there  is  still  the  evidence  that  the  men  are  being  taught  to  do  useful 
work,  which  may  in  some  cases  possibly  enable  them  to  become  of 
service  in  the  land  when  they  are  released  from  the  hand  of  the  law. 
In  one  department  particularly,  which  was  the  special  object  of  my 
visit — the  farm — land  cultivation  is  carried  out  on  a  scale  that  could 
be  attempted  in  few  places  where  labour  is  scarce  and  expensive. 
Something  like  2000  acres  have  been  reclaimed  from  the  wild  district 
round  the  prison,  and  a  large  part  of  this  has  been  brought  under 
spade  cultivation,  with  astonishing  results  in  crops  and  returns.  It  is 
an  uncommon  sight  to  witness  200  men  digging  with  spades  on  one 
piece  of  ground,  yet  this  is  what  I  saw ;  and  the  thought  arose  in  my 
mind  what  a  wage’s  bill  I  should  have  to  meet  at  the  end  of  a  week 
if  I  had  such  an  army  to  pay  at  the  current  local  rates  of  Is.  6d.  per 
square  pole.  Still  it  is  a  great  object  lesson,  for  certainly  few  soils 
could  be  so  unpromising  as  that  on  Dartmoor,  yet  with  abundant 
labour  and  the  free  use  of  all  the  refuse  from  the  prison  a  marvellous 
transformation  has  been  effected ;  certainly  the  desert  has  been  made 
to  smile.  No  more  healthful  occupation  could  be  found  for  the  men, 
aud  the  Avhole  farm,  including  the  dairy  and  stock  departments,  are 
highly  creditable  to  the  officials. 
Headers  may  observe  there  is  not  much  “gardening”  in  these 
notes,  but  the  Editor  says  that  a  change  is  good  occasionally  even  in 
the  contents  of  our  much  valued  Journal ;  but  to  compensate  for  the 
horticultural  shortcomings  of  this  letter  the  next  shall  be  all  gardening 
to  conclude. — V iator. 
(To  be  concluded.) 
ARTIFICIAL  AND  FARMYARD  MANURES. 
The  concurrence  of  opinion  resulting  from  experience  concerning 
manures  is  too  well  established  to  be  set  aside  by  the  assumption  that 
their  action  is  empirical,  and  that  it  can  in  any  way  be  simply  a  matter  of 
faith,  or  that  they  have  no  useful  place  in  the  economics  of  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil.  Such  simple  faith  would  apply,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  quite  as 
much  to  farmyard  manure  as  to  artificials,  in  so  far  as  actual  plant  food 
is  provided,  which  even  stable  manure  does  not  give  unaided,  as  we  are 
again  reminded  on  page  193,  in  the  following  words,  by  Mr.  W,  Dyke  : — 
“  The  organic  nitrogen  in  farmyard  manure  is  during  decay  converted 
into  ammonia.  The  ammonia  is  then  changed  by  certain  nitrifying 
organisms  into  nitric  acid.  The  acid  when  formed  in  the  soil  unites  with 
lime  and  forms  nitrate  of  lime,  and  it  is  from  this  source  that  plants 
obtain  their  chief  supply  ot  nitrogen.”  The  very  pertinent  question  arises, 
“  Is  lime  present  to  effect  the  valuable  conversion,  without  which  even 
stable  dung  would  be  mainly  only  a  mechanical  agent  instead  of  a  plant 
food  ?  ” 
lleferring  now  to  experiences  (such  as  on  page  186),  they  do  not 
appear  to  be  founded  on  a  complete  set  of  scientific  experiments,  but 
rather  on  a  series  of  rule-of-thumb  methods.  The  presence  of  a 
dark  horse  is  also  apparent  on  page  200  in  a  few  lines  on  “  Artificial 
Manures,”  where  it  is  stated,  “  The  same  kinds  of  artificial  manures  do 
not  produce  the  same  effects  ih  differing  soils.  Those  who  use  them  can 
only  relate  their  experience.”  Exactly  so  1  The  article  proceeds,  “  If 
one  person  find  them  of  service  he  haj  good  reason  to  speak  in  their 
favour  ;  if  another  use  them  carefully  with  no  practical  results,  he  can 
only  say  what  is  true.  His  land  and  crops  did  not  need  them.”  Precisely 
so  1  The  labour  and  expense  were  wasted.  The  dark  horse  ever  returns. 
The  simultaneous  appearance  of  the  articles  referred  to  in  your  .Journal 
furnishes  the  opportunity  for  drawing  attention  to  the  omission  of  an 
important  factor,  so  far  as  any  positive  references  are  concerned.  There 
is  substantial  merit  in  the  articles  cited  and  referred  to  by  me,  and  the 
subject  deserves  all  the  solicitude  it  can  engross  at  the  hands  of  the 
writers,  but  only  so  far  as  they  go.  The  dark  horse  is  unheeded  ;  an 
important  link  is  missing  in  the  operations  alluded  to.  As  a  step  in  the 
right  direction  I  find  much  written  about  the  importance  justifiably 
attached  to  guarantees  of  the  strength  of  fertilisers  ;  but  it  is  a  strangely 
incomplete  proceeding  when  exact  science  is  aimed  at,  that  the  predomi¬ 
nant  partner  in  the  whole  affair,  the  chemical  constituents  of  the  soil, 
seem  to  remain  unobserved,  or,  to  be  more  evact,  unmentioned.  Are  they 
treated  as  a  negligible  quantity  all  round  ?  and  is  the  result  of  elaborate 
mixtures  on  chemical  lines  thus  usually  a  matter  of  chance  as  to  outcome 
in  part,  if  not  an  entire  loss  occasionally,  except  always  where  lengthy 
direct  experiments  have  taught  the  lesson  to  a  man  growing  old  over  its 
accomplishment  ? 
The  reduced  charges  for  analysis  of  the  soil  render  the  expense  in 
proportion  a  trivial  one.  It  may  be  useful  to  direct  attention,  as  stated 
on  page  20  and  page  26  of  the  R.II.S.  Journal  (Arrangements  for  1898), 
that  at  the  reduced  charge  of  lOs.  a  partial  analysis  of  the  soil  will  be 
made  by  Dr.  Voelcker  for  Eellows  of  the  R.H.S.,  including  determination 
of  clay,  sand,  organic  matter,  and  carbonate  of  lime.  The  charge  for  a 
complete  analysis,  including  plant  foods,  is  £3. 
It  is  the  proportion  of  lime  to  be  ascertained  so  cheaply  to  which  I 
wish  to  direct  attention,  as  this  useful  material  is  lost  sight  of  in  the 
absence  of  an  analysis  of  the  soil.  Yet  science  tells  us  that  lime  turns 
dormant  plant  foods  into  available  ones,  and  destroys  the  bad  qualities 
of  substances  that  prejudice  growth,  and  acts  as  an  antidote  to  sour  soil. 
It  also  decomposes  organic  matter  into  plant  food,  and  has  a  physical 
influence  besides.  It  even  improves  light  soils  by  rendering  them  less 
porous.  Its  application  thus  becomes  a  general  corrective,  where  proved 
deficient  by  analysis  of  the  soil,  naturally  or  through  absorption  by  crops ; 
and  I  feel  convinced  that  in  many  cases  of  the  use  of  sundry  manures 
lime  would  accomplish  the  main  part  necessary  much  more  cheaply,  and 
would  save  heavy  amounts  of  indiscriminate  outlay  on  manures.  The 
simple  analysis  of  every  variety  of  soil  on  any  estate  would  save 
absolutely  from  groping  in  the  dark,  a  condition  of  things  that  appears 
common. 
It  is  interesting  to  read  in  this  connection  also  the  following,  from  a 
report  in  the  “Standard”  of  Professor  Warington’s  lecture  before  the 
Newcastle  Farmers’  Club,  on  the  subject  of  compensation  for  the  use  of 
foods  and  manures: — “Mr.  Warington  shows  that  operations  which 
constitute  improvements  on  some  soils  are  really  deteriorating  on  others,, 
and  that  the  residue  of  fertility  left  by  manures  varies  greatly  with  the 
character  of  the  soil.” 
This  statement  leaves  also  the  gist  of  what  I  have  at  heart,  that  the 
soil  should  be  analysed  before  manuring.  Owners  should  be  guided  in 
the  selection  of  manures  by  the  result  of  analysis  of  the  soil. 
When  all  is  known  that  can  be  by  systematic  analysis  of  the  soil,  and 
the  manures  are  determined  in  accordance  therewith  for  the  respective 
crops,  direct  experiments  should  be  made  to  complete  the  evidence  by 
proof  supplied  by  various  crops  as  would  be  propitiated  in  accordance 
with  knowledge  that  science  supplies  so  abundantly.  It  would  seem  a 
small  matter  for  large  cultivators  of  leading  crops  to  dedicate  every  year 
some  corner  of  any  fields  of  sufficient  extent,  and  of  homogeneous  soil, 
to  experiment  on  one  or  more  different  crops,  technically  known  as 
deriving  assistance  from  existing  conditions,  and  thus  have  proof  supplied 
as  to  which  crops,  in  regular  rotation  or  otherwise,  would  deserve 
preferential  treatment  on  any  particular  plot  of  land. 
Nor  are  far  reaching  effects  of  a  correct  interpretation  of  all  the 
phenomena  alluded  to  absent,  for  a  crop  growing  with  fair  vigour,  from 
attention  generally  bestowed,  will  possibly  escape  insects,  pests,  and 
other  drawbacks  from  which  a  weakly  crop  would  certainly  suffer  soonest, 
such  crops  which  would,  for  instance,  grow  on  land  that  has  deteriorated 
on  Professor  Warington’s  principles. 
Although  the  subject  of  this  article  is  suggested  by  correspondence 
in  a  horticultural  journal,  the  wider  range  of  its  application  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil  on  large  agricultural  estates  is  equally  manifest, 
and  is  alluded  to  in  various  ways.  It  is  only  in  reference  to  the  actual 
analysis  of  the  soil  that  I  wish  to  suggest  possible  opportunities  nearer 
home  in  the  various  centres  of  education  created  under  the  management 
of  County  Councils  or  agricultural  and  horticultural  societies,  which 
might  be  preferred  for  convenience  to  the  address  given  by  me. 
I  should  not  wonder  if  in  gradually  increasing  attention  to  the  niceties 
of  these  problems  may  be  discovered  an  unsuspected  source  for  improve¬ 
ment,  unsuspected  by  the  many,  for  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  and  its 
results,  with  a  gradual  suppression  of  importations. — H.  H.  R.,  Forest  Hill. 
[This  article  was  one  of  others  in  type  for  our  last  issue,  but 
unavoidably  crowded  out.] 
TRITOMA  SAUNDERSI. 
I  AM  fully  persuaded  Tritomas  are  not  nearly  so  much  grown  as  their 
merits  deserve.  When  seen  in  groups  or  large  masses  they  make  a 
wonderful  and  effective  display,  and  coming  into  flower  at  a  time  when 
most  other  things  are  on  the  wane,  makes  them  doubly  welcome. 
Last  autumn,  on  the  9th  of  October,  I  saw  a  plant  of  T,  Saundersi  in 
the  garden  of  W.  T.  Hindmarsh,  Esq.,  Alnbank,  near  Alnwick,  which  I 
am  not  likely  soon  to  forget.  Mr.  Hindmarsh  is  an  excellent  gardener, 
and,  from  the  position  this  plant  occupied,  evidently  understands  the  require¬ 
ments  of  Tritomas.  It  was  growing  in  the  middle  of  a  large  and  beautiful 
bed  of  tuberous-rooted  Begonias.  The  centre  of  the  bed  is  considerably 
elevated  above  the  ground  level,  which  not  only  gives  a  greater  amount  of 
heat  in  the  growing  season,  but  keeps  the  plant  drier  at  the  roots  during 
winter.  The  plant  was  4^  feet  high,  and  nearly  .3  feet  in  diameter,  and 
carried  thirty-four  splendid  spikes,  a  few  of  which  were  at  their  best,  and 
measured  1  foot  in  length,  of  a  uniform  shape,  and  of  a  bright  and  cheerful 
colour. 
No  Tritoma  I  have  seen  produces  such  a  charming  appearance,  and 
all  who  do  not  possess  this  variety  should  make  a  note  of  it.  There  is 
an  idea  that  Tritomas  are  rather  tender.  Mr.  Hindmarsh  thinks  that, 
like  some  other  plants,  they  suffer  more  from  damn  during  winter  than 
from  frost,  and  I  believe  this  is  quite  true,  hence  the  necessity  of  planting 
them  in  a  rather  elevated  position.  We  have  lifted  all  our  Tritomas, 
and  replanted  them  on  a  higher  level. — N.  N. 
