354 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



MARCH 9, 1S99. 



and phosphoric acid that had heen re- 

 moved from the soil by the crop. 



There was little difference in the 

 analyses of flowers grown in different 

 plots, soils and quantities of fertilizers, 

 or in the three different varieties. This 

 difference is so sligiit that we may 

 consider an average of eight analyses 

 to fairly represent the normal compo- 

 sition of carnation blooms. It is as 

 follows: 



Nitrogen '. 39 per cent 



Phosphoric acid O.IS 



Potash Ot''' 



The amounts of these substances in 

 the plants at time of setting were 

 about the same as the quantities re- 

 moved in the cut flowers during the 

 blooming season of about six months. 

 At the time of harvest the plants con- 

 tained somewhat larger quantities of 

 each ingredient, especially potash, 

 than at time of setting. From the 

 fresh weights and analyses of the 

 flowers: 



No. of 

 Flowers. 



Davbreak.... 10,000 191 12 5 lib. 5 

 Wm. Scott. ..10,000 187 11.7 4.8 lib. 4.6 

 Alaska 10,000 134 8.3 3,4 lb. 14.8 



During the Winter of 1897-98 the 

 carnation experiments were continued 

 along similar lines. The yield, how- 

 ever, was much smaller, owing in part 

 to the condition of plants at time of 

 setting, prevalence of stem-rot and 

 causes wholly outside the question of 

 fertilizers. 



This time two of the compost plots 

 gave slightly larger yields than the 

 plots of coal ashes, and the plot where 

 fertilizer chemicals were added to the 

 compost gave a few more blooms than 

 the same kind of soil, without the 

 fertilizers. 



In the coal ashes and peat moss the 

 best yield was produced where the 

 same chemicals were used and in the 

 same quantities that gave the most 

 satisfactory results the previous sea- 

 son. Two plots were supplied with 30 

 and 45 grams respectively of nitrogen, 

 in form of cotton seed meal, but the 

 resulting yield was less than where ni- 

 trate of soda was used. 



The present season nitrate of soda, 

 cotton seed meal and ground bone are 

 being tested side by side, as sources 

 of nitrogen. Up to this time there is 

 very little difference in the plants of 

 the several plots. All appear to he 

 equally vigorous and the plots are 

 nearly even, as regards the number ol 

 blooms produced; the one having the 

 larger quantity of ground bone being 

 four or five blossoms ahead. The re- 

 mainder of the season will, therefore, 

 be necessaiT to determine whether 

 either of the organic forms of nitrogen 

 is preferable to nitrate nitrogen, for 

 growing carnations. 



Bone is considered by some growers 

 a valuable fertilizer, but bone varies 

 greatly. Raw knuckle bone is not 



worth much as a source of nitrogen, 

 but if steamed or roasted, the nitrogen 

 becomes more available. If the materi- 

 al contains a large amount of meat 

 and cartilage when ground, the per- 

 centage of nitrogen will not only be 

 much higher, but the nitrogen will 

 also be more available. 



One strange result from our experi- 

 ence is that, as a rule, a larger yield 

 is obtained from the soil of coal ashes 

 and peat than from the compost soil. 

 This was true with five successive 

 crops of tomatoes grown under glass. 

 It was the ease with caimations. There 

 is a possibility that the compost was 

 not what it should have been, yet it 

 was prepared in the same manner and 

 of the same kind of materials as the 

 compost used by most growers. 



It may seem like heresy for me to 

 recommend putting the fertilizers all 

 in the soil before the plants are set. 

 This has given the best results, how- 

 ever, in our artificial preparation of 

 coal ashes and peat moss. Several 

 times we have added the fertilizer to 

 a few plots, in small quantities, mak- 

 ing three or four applications. No 

 benefit seemed to result from this frac- 

 tional fertilization, and those plants 

 that received the entire amount at the 

 beginning gave better yields. It is 

 possible that a different result might 

 have been obtained, if the fertilizer 

 had been applied still oftener and in 

 smaller quantities, in liquid form. 



This, remember, has been our experi- 

 ence with the artificially prepared me- 

 dium of coal ashes and peat moss. Let 

 us look at the compost. Where we 

 have added fertilizer chemicals to a 

 rich compost, as a rule the j'ield has 

 not been increased. In the case of to- 

 matoes and lettuce the yield has al- 

 ways been considerably less than from 

 the compost alone. You may be sur- 

 prised to hear this; perhaps still less 

 pleased than surprised, but it is true 

 and the truth is what we are after. I 

 might state, however, that whatever 

 results are obtained with compost 

 and chemical fertilizei-s, these results 

 depend, in large measure, upon what 

 to us is an unknown quality, i. e., the 

 biological condition of the compost 

 employed. 



Most of us are inclined to think that, 

 if we use a good turf and a good stable 

 manure, mix together and decompose 

 them, we have a soil that is rich in 

 plant food and, therefore, plants must 

 grow well in it. 



For many years it has been known 

 that soils contain minute organisms or 

 bacteria, popularly called microbes or 

 germs, which transform the nitrogen 

 of organic substances, such as vege- 

 talble or animal matter, into 'nitrates, 

 a form which can readily be taken up 

 and assimilated by the plants. These 

 organisms are called nitrifying organ- 

 isms and are connected with most de- 

 caying matter. They are very benefi- 

 cial. Their effect upon manures and 

 soils has led us to recommend well de- 

 composed manure for use about the 



roots of plants, and rightly, for two 

 reasons: First, there is more nitrogen 

 present in the soil for the plant to use, 

 if the organic matter has been broken 

 up and nitrates formed. In the second 

 pla(^. where the soil contains an 

 abundance of organic matter, nitrifica- 

 tion sometimes goes on so rapidly as 

 to actually poison or injure the plants 

 growing in it. This was well demon- 

 strated at our own Station by Dr. Jen- 

 kins, in a case where a large quantity 

 of dried blood was added to the soil 

 where a crop of oats was to be grown. 



More recently, however, it has been 

 established that there is another form 

 of organism found in many soils and 

 manures, which, instead of causing ni- 

 trates to be formed from the organic 

 nitrogen, breaks up these nitrates and 

 dissipates the free nitrogen into the 

 air. 



So that, unless we have some knowl- 

 edge of the microbic life of the soil 

 we cannot tell the amount of nitrogen 

 which our compost may contain. This 

 denitrifying microbe is a factor in the 

 arts of horticulture and agriculture 

 which is bound to receive considera- 

 tion in the future. 



In one of my own experiments with 

 lettuce, a bench was filled with rather 

 poor soil, to which had been added 

 chemical fertilizers in sufiicient quan- 

 tities to grow a crop. The plants grew 

 scarcely at all and, after a few weeks, 

 turned brown, after the manner of 

 starved plants. An examination of the 

 soil showed it to be deficient in nitro- 

 gen, yet a certain quantity of nitrogen 

 was added to it. I can see no explana- 

 tion of the fact, other than the dissi- 

 pation of the nitrogen by the denitri- 

 fying bacteria. In this case, no stable 

 manure was added to the soil, but the 

 loss of nitrogen is probably more 

 likely to occur where nitrogenous 

 fertilizers are used in connection with 

 stable manure. 



Professors Wagner and Kuhn, of 

 Germany, have been making experi- 

 ments and observations along this line. 

 Wagner found that when nitrates were 

 dissolved in a water extract of fresh 

 horse manure they were destroyed and 

 free nitrogen liberated. He also found 

 that, when fresh dung was used in con- 

 nection with nitrates or green vege- 

 table substances as a fertilizer, the 

 yield was so depressed that the weight 

 of crop where the manure was added 

 was far below that produced by the ni- 

 trates alome, even though the manure 

 contained twice as much nitro.gen as 

 the nitrates. 



Wagner explains this by stating that 

 the microbes in the fresh dung expell- 

 ed nitrogen gas, not only from the ma- 

 nure itself, but also from the nitrate, 

 before the plant could take it up and 

 assimilate it. 



To be sure, in Wagner's tests, fresh 

 manure was employed. You may con- 

 sider this another reason for using the 

 decomposed material, but the compost 

 may already have lost much of its ni- 

 trogen in this manner, and there may 



