I made a trial with some 800 flowering
plants, using one sample of seed, but sowing one-third on richly manured
soil, one-third on an unprepared bed of my garden, and one-third on
nearly pure sand. In all other respects the three groups were treated in
the same way. Of [396] the manured plants one-half gave full crowns, of
the non-manured only one-fifth, and on the sandy soil a still smaller
proportion. Other trials led to the same results. I have often made use
of steamed and ground horn, which is a manure very rich in nitrogenous
substances. One-eighth of a kilo per square meter is an ample amount.
And its effect was to increase the number of full crowns to an
exceptional degree.
In the controlling trial and under ordinary circumstances this figure
reached some 50%, but with ground horn it came up as high as 90%. We may
state this result by the very striking assertion that the number of
large crowns in a given culture may be nearly doubled by rich manure.
All other external conditions act in a similar manner. The best
treatment is required to attain the best result. A sunny exposure is one
of the most essential requisites, and in some attempts to cultivate my
poppies in the shade, I found the pistillody strongly reduced, not a
single full crown being found in the whole lot.
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