542 



The Weekly Florists'" Review. 



APRIL 27, 1S99. 



and lift and pot in September or be- 

 fore there is any danger of frost. 



WILLIAM SCOTT. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS IN APRIL. 



We present herewith an engraving 

 from a photograph taken April 19 of 

 a bench of President Sniitli chrysan- 

 themums, in bloom at the establish- 

 ment of Mr. Carl Hirsch. Hillsdale, 

 Mich. Mr. Hirsch sends with the pho- 

 tograph a few of the flowers, which 

 are about as good as those produced 

 in November b.v this variety, measur- 

 ing a good five inches in diameter. 



He says the plants have been in 

 the house since .lune, ]89S. He cut a 

 good crop last November and in eight 

 or ten weeks after the crop was cut 

 the plants commenced to bloom again 

 and have been flowering ever since. 



THE RELATION OF BACTERIA TO 

 THE NUTRITION OF PLANTS. 



[Read by Dr. Otis \V. Calclwellof the Univers tv 

 of Chicago, before the Cliicago Florists' Club, 

 .\pril 21, 1,S99,] 



So much has been said of various 

 forms of bacteria as being causes of 

 disease of men and lower organisms, 

 that unless we turn our attention to 

 some other phases of bacterial life, we 

 shall be led to conclude that all these 

 minute bodies are directly opposed to 

 our own interests. It is natural that 

 we should think more often of those 

 bacteria which give us disease; but we 

 know quite well that our interests are 

 affected none the less by other bac- 

 teria; and it is in consideration of 

 some of these other forms which are 

 helpful rather than harmful of which 

 I now wish to speak. And in dealing 

 with the subject as announced I wish 

 to consider it under four divisions: 1, 

 nutrition of green plants; 2, decompo- 

 sition or putrefaction of organized 

 bodies; 3, the nitrifying bacteria; 4, 

 the bacteria of root-tubercles. 



I. Nutrition of Green PUnts. 



A clear discussion of the nutrition 

 of plants may well begin with a con- 

 sideration of the peculiar work of the 

 green parts of plants, under the influ- 

 ence of the sun's rays, a most impor- 

 tant process to which has Ijeen given 

 the name "photosynthesis," or con- 

 struction of foods by means of the 

 light. It is a matter of common knowl- 

 edge that there is in the atmosphere a 

 large quantity of carbonic acid gas 

 which is taken through the surface of 

 the leaves of plants; and that large 

 quantities of water are brought up 

 from the roots of plants through the 

 stem into the leaves. Here in the in- 

 terior of the leaf there are certain 

 small bodies known as plastids, which 

 are colored green by the coloring mat- 

 ter, chlorophyll, which gives the green 

 ^ color to the entire leaf. 



The plastids by means of the chlo- 

 rophyll are able to intercept certain 

 rays of light and to use their energy in 

 breaking up the water and carbonic 



acid gas into the elements hydrogen, 

 oxygen and carbon. Some of the oxy- 

 gen thus freed passes out of the leaf 

 into the atmosphere and more or less 

 of it is used in the respiration of ani- 

 mals. Some of the oxygen which re- 

 mains within the leaf serves a similar 

 purpose to the plant, while the re- 

 mainder and the carbon unite to form 

 a new compound. After various 

 changes this new compound may be 

 recognized in the forms known as 

 starch and sugar. This power of tak- 

 ing inorganic suljstances, such as car- 

 bonic acid gas and water and making 

 from them an organic substance such 

 as starch or sugar belongs to green 

 plants only. Such substances form 

 the basis of all food materials and 

 to the green plants all non-green 

 plants and the animals must look for 

 the source of their food. 



But the products of the union of the 

 carbon, hydrogen and oxygen can be 

 utilized as food by neither plants nor 

 animals until it has undergone further 

 change. To these things there must be 

 added other compounds containing 

 nitrogen, sulphur, etc., the nitrates be- 

 ing the most prominent of all. The 

 nitrates are obtained directly from 

 the soil and are carried up to the 

 leaves in the current of water which 

 is constantly passing from roots to 

 leaves. Whenever sufficient amounts 

 of nitrates and water are present the 

 plants are able to build up all the food 

 materials they need in their growth. 

 Insuflicient quantities of either result 

 in greater or less starvation of the 

 plants. The soil must be kept reason- 

 ably rich in nitrates and similar com- 

 pounds by the addition of fertilizers 

 from artificial or natural sources. 

 There must be at band plenty of w,'ater 

 in which these compounds may be 

 made into solution, and by means of 

 which they may be carried through 

 the roots and stalks of the plants. The 

 green leaves might be prepared to do 

 their part of the work in producing 

 food for the plant, but should such 

 substances as the nitrates be absent 

 from the soil the plant could not pros- 

 per. Every one who has had to do 

 with the cultivation of plants recog- 

 nizes these things in practice and ad- 

 justs the conditions to his plants ac- 

 cordingly, by artificially introducing 

 fertilizers and water in case the sup- 

 ply of these things by nature is not 

 sufficient to meet the demand. It is 

 not our main purpose at present to 

 discuss artificial means of fertilizing, 

 with which all are familiar, but rather 

 to consider the processes found in na- 

 ture. From this we may obtain some 

 valuable suggestions as to things 

 which must be done artificially when 

 nature's process fails. And first we 

 shall consider the source of the soil's 

 supply of such compounds as the ni- 

 trates. 



II. Decomposition or Putrefaction. 



It is a fact well known to us all 

 that the dead body of either plant or 

 animal when left exposed to air and 

 moisture will soon decay, and by de- 



cay we mean the breaking up of the 

 body into gases, water, and other com- 

 pounds, which may pass into the air 

 or be carried down into the adjace-nt 

 soil. Prominent among the gases pro- 

 duced is carbon dioxide or carbonic 

 acid gas, while of those compounds 

 which enter the soil the different 

 forms of ammonia are most promi- 

 nent. 



Now we may well ask, "How do 

 these things take place'.'" "Why is the 

 organized body which compo-sed the 

 plant or animal now breaking up into 

 these substances which pass off into 

 the atmosphere or the soil'?" In other 

 words, "What is decay, its nature, and 

 cause?" If we were to make a careful 

 study of the decaying body of an ani- 

 mal or plant, we should find it inhabit- 

 ed by many thousands of minute or- 

 ganisms, some of which are of the 

 animal kingdom, but far more of 

 which are of that class of lowly 

 plants known as the bacteria. We 

 should probably find several kinds of 

 bacteria, and should we, from day to 

 day, examine a body which had just 

 begun to decay, we should find the 

 number of bacteria increasing marvel- 

 ously. The dead body furnishes these 

 minute organisms admirable places 

 for growth. They take the parts of 

 the body and use them as food and in 

 thus using them break them up into 

 the water, carbonic acid gas, and am- 

 monia compounds, of which we have 

 already spoken. And in this process 

 of using these organized products the 

 bacteria have obtained the things they 

 desired as food and have grown and 

 increased in number at a very rapid 

 rate. These bacteria of decomposition 

 continue this process until the body 

 which gave them nourishment has be- 

 come entirely disorganized and has 

 disappeared from the surface of the 

 earth. 



III. The Nitrifying Bacteria. 



While many of the products of pu- 

 trefaction are in such form that they 

 may be again used directly by plants, 

 some of them are not so, but must first 

 undergo further change. Some of the 

 ammonia or nitrogen compounds 

 formed in decay do not contain as 

 much oxygen as must be present in 

 the nitrogen salts which can be used 

 by higher plants. These compounds 

 may be in the form of pure ammonia 

 or the form known in the language of 

 chemistry as nitrites. Now this group 

 of nitrifying bacteria has the power of 

 using these nitrogen compounds and 

 thereby changing them into the ni- 

 trates which contain the amounts of 

 oxygen required in the food of higher 

 plants. This process must go on in 

 the soil constantly in order that these 

 nitrogen compounds may be made into 

 the nitrates — the utilizaljle. These 

 bacteria must not be confused with 

 the bacteria of putrefaction. They are 

 entirely different, and it is not known 

 that they are ever primarily interested 

 in inducing putrefaction. They take 

 up a part of the work at the point 

 where it is left by putrefactive bacte- 



