104 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Hensel says again : " ITitrogenous foods are supposed to be 

 strength-givers. This is a theoretic error, full of fatal consequences 

 for agriculture. We have never had as many cattle plagues as we 

 have had since artificial fertilizers and ' strong ' foods have been in 

 vogue. 



One proposition is sure, there are no earths in stable manure. It 

 stimulates the soil ; makes semi-hotbeds ; produces quick growth ; of 

 itself, could produce no strength ; the earths have been absorbed by 

 the animal ; produces ammonia, which has the same effect on the plant 

 that alcohol has on man. Why is there a demand for " well-rotted 

 manure ? " Because the ammonia has escaped and the refuse mixed 

 with the soil makes it light and pleasant to cultivate. 



Here is the whole theory : make new soil ; do not doctor it. Give 

 to the ground real soil containing the ingredients the plant or tree 

 needs. To do this, give it the pulverized rock suitable to that locality. 

 The practical point to settle is, how far fertilizing with stone meal pays. 

 What yield it affords. Would it be better to break the lime rock of 

 these regions than to gather them off the ground? Why are strangers 

 amazed at the fertility of our rocky ground. We used to wonder why 

 the first 10 or 12 rows of corn in a field lying along the turnpike in 

 Kentucky were much better than the remainder of the field. They 

 were fertilized with stone meal. 



'"Almost every field contains stones which have only been acted 

 upon in part by the dissolving moisture of the soil, and which, there- 

 fore, show a more or less rounded form. These stones, as they injure 

 the plow or spade, are usually removed to the sides of the field, and 

 there heaped up and sold at a cheap rate for the highway. The farmer 

 who acts thus sells his birthright." Hensel 102-3. The theory spe- 

 cially applied to fruit trees is found in Hensel 108-9. 



A letter to the Pomological Society of Germany says : "For the 

 last two years I have been making various experiments with stone 

 meal manure, and indeed with different kinds. From my experience 

 with it I have come to the firm conviction that we need no other manure 

 at all but this. 



"I should like to send you a picture of some of our standard trees 

 and some of our half standards, so, with your own eyes you would be 

 convinced of the excellent effect of this wonderful fertilizer. The 

 apples hang twice as thick as in other years, and their flavor can hardly 

 be recognized ; their aroma is really refreshing." 



With this this testimony from geology and from those who have 

 tested the whole theory by actaal experiment, I present the following 

 for consideration : 



