442 



The Weekly Rorists' Review* 



MARCH 15, 1900. 



that, and blame everything on poor 

 Mother Earth — for the earth is our 

 mother, she being the mother of all or- 

 ganized life, and when our course is 

 run we have to go home to her and 

 rest in her bosom. 



We will see later on that soil or 

 earth does not have so much effect on 

 plant growth as we think. It depends 

 upon what we intelligent workers give 

 it or restore to it whether we get a 

 good crop and plenty of good, large 

 blooms. 1 will therefore try to explain 

 to you what soil is. what it contains 

 and what it needs. I will also mention 

 the principal chemical fertilizers used 

 by florists, how to use them and the 

 benefits we can gain by their use. 



Chemists tell us that water and the 

 air around us make up from 88 to 90 

 per cent, of our crops. Soil, they tell 

 us, does but little more than help the 

 plants to stand upright, while water 

 and air, obeying chemical laws, build 

 up their structure. But what is soil? 

 It is nothing but disintegrated and de- 

 composed rock mingled with vegetable 

 waste and dead animal life. From the 

 granite class of rock we get the min- 

 eral feldspar, mica, hornblende and 

 quartz, and from these the silicon, pot- 

 ash, iron, soda, alumina, lime and 

 manganese. The sedimentary rocks, of 

 which the various slates are the types, 

 have the particles in finer form, hence 

 the soils formed from these, such as 

 clays, have their mineral constitutents 

 in finer condition. But the finest sub- 

 division of all in which the mineral 

 matter of the soil exists is that sup- 

 plied by dead plants and animals, into 

 whose structure the minerals entered 

 in so fine a state as to be held in solu- 

 tion by water. 



If we give some plant ashes to the 

 chemist he will tell us that these ashes 

 contain silicon, iron, potassium, cal- 

 cium, phosphorus, sodium; sulphur, 

 aluminium, chlorine, magnesium, etc. 

 These are the elements that all plants 

 take from the soil, and the soil itself 

 obtained them from the solid rock. The 

 order in creation then is that the rocks 

 supply the minerals, plants feed on 

 these minerals, animals feed on these 

 plants, and omnivorous man, lord of 

 all, feeds on these animals and plants. 

 Most of the dozen elements that en- 

 ter into the composition of plants are 

 found in sufficient quantity in almost 

 all soils, leaving but three — potash, ni- 

 trogen and phosphoric acid — as the 

 three essentials that we must supply to 

 the soil if we want a good crop. All 

 plant food is manure, and all manure 

 is plant food, whether it is in the form 

 of artificial manure or the natural 

 product of the barnyard. Where do the 

 fertilizing elements of barnyard ma- 

 nure come from? From the food the 

 animal eats. What are the manufac- 

 tured fertilizers made of? From the 

 animal itself — blood, bone, flesh, etc. 

 What does barnyard manure con- 

 tain? A common one-horse load 

 will contain 802 lbs. of water, 5V4 lbs. 

 nitrogen, 118 lbs. silica and sand, fi'/i 

 lbs. alumina, 3'^ lbs. lime, 3% lbs. 



magnesia, 4% lbs. potash, 1 lb. soda, 1 

 lb. sulphuric acid, 1 lb. chlorine. 



As a rule the soil has all it needs of 

 these except nitrogen, potash and 

 phosphoric acid, in all about 15 lbs. 

 There is, however, a value in barnyard 

 manure in addition to its fertilizing 

 properties, and that is humus. Hu- 

 mus is all dead vegetable and animal 

 matter in process of decay. Humus 

 holds a great store of carbonic acid, 

 which decomposes the rninerals in the 

 soil, setting free potash and phosphoric 

 acid. It is a great argument for the use 

 of barnyard manure in preference to 

 commercial fertilizers that it forms hu- 

 mus, but if we turn under grass or clo- 

 ver sod or any green crop we get the 

 same result, and these we can raise 

 with the help of commercial fertilizers. 



As we have seen, the three elements 

 we need most as fertilizers are potash, 

 nitrogen and phosphoric acid. What is 

 potash? Potash is the element potas- 

 sium combined with oxygen (potassium 

 oxide). The name potash was given it 

 because it was made in Iron pots from 

 ashes. Potash is a most caustic, biting 

 alkali, dissolving and decomposing all 

 organic structures it comes in contact 

 with. In the vegetable kingdom it is 

 held by plants in the process of growth 

 in a soluble state combined with ox- 

 alic, tartaric, silicic and sulphuric 

 acids. Potash is not only one of the 

 three essentuils for all plant growth, 

 but it is also found in the fruits, vege- 

 tables and grains, such as the grape, 

 the apple, the potato, etc. 



The principal sources from which we 

 obtain potash are the nitrate of potash 

 from India, the sulphates, muriates, 

 etc.. from Germany, and in this coun- 

 try from wood ashes, burnt cotton seed 

 liulls, etc. 5ome soils are already over 

 rich in potash. Soils \n which beech, 

 maple, oalf^ walnut and elm trees grow 

 with thrift, also tansy and purslane, 

 are pretty sure to be naturally rich in 

 potash in food condition. 



Nitrogen is the second essential ele- 

 ment in plant growth. The air which 

 surrounds us is made up of four-fifths 

 nitrogen and one-fifth oxygen gas, but 

 this nitrogen is not available as plant 

 food. When nitrogen is combined with 

 hydrogen — 18 parts hydrogen to 82 

 parts of nitrogen — we have ammonia, 

 one of the most common forms in 

 which nitrogen is fed to our plants. 

 The other most important source of 

 nitrogen is nitric acid, which is a com- 

 bination of nitrogen and oxygen, and 

 forms nitrates which are a combina- 

 tion of the nitric acid with soda, pot- 

 ash and other bases, and form the ni- 

 trate of soda, nitrate of potash, etc. 

 The principal sources from which we 

 obtain nitrogen are Peruvian guano, 

 sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, 

 tankage, dried blood, cotton seed waste, 

 hoof and horn shavings, etc. 



The third substance is phosphoric 

 acid. It is composed of the element 

 phosphorus combined with oxygen gas. 

 The four great sources of phosphoric 

 acid are the mineral apatite, the phos- 

 phatic guanos, the 1,'ones of all animals 

 and the mineral phosphate rocks. 



I do not recommend the use of chem- 

 ical fertilizers alone, but used with 

 care in connection with barnyard ma- 

 nure we will get very good results. 

 Most all of our large growers use one 

 or more kinds of chemical fertilizers. 

 The principal kinds of chemical ferti- 

 lizers that may be used by florists are: 



For nitrogen: Sulphate of ammonia, 

 nitrate of soda, dried blood. 



For phosphoric acid: Guano, bone 

 meal and bone black, phosphate rock, 

 etc. 



For potash: Muriate of potash, sul- 

 phate of potash, wood ashes, etc. 



There are several reasons why flor- 

 ists should use more chemical fertili- 

 zers. We have seen that a one-horse 

 load of barnyard manure contains only 

 15 pounds of real active fertilizer i hu- 

 mus not considered). One bag of phos- 

 phates or a few pounds of chemicals 

 will do as much good, if not more, as 

 a two-horse load of manure. Consider 

 the saving of labor and time over put- 

 ting into the greenhouse a two-horse 

 load of manure. Barnyard manure 

 takes several months to decay, for 

 plants cannot feed upon it until it is 

 rotted. Chemical fertilizers, being 

 mostly used in solution and at once 

 available as plant food, are taken up 

 by the plants in a few hours, or at 

 least in a few days. 



Chemical fertilizers, containing no 

 seeds of weeds or grass, keep our soil 

 free from weeds, resulting in less work 

 and cleaner houses, with no scratching 

 of face or hands in pulling weeds from 

 our rose beds. Chemical fertilizers 

 contain no germs of animal life and do 

 not fill our greenhouses with worms 

 and flies of all kinds, which are 

 hatched out of manure by the heat and 

 often bring death to the plants. 



How to Use Chemicals. 



Sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of 

 soda, muriate and sulphate of potash 

 should be used in solution, only about 

 a 3-inch potful to 50 gallons of water. 

 Use only one of these at a time, an(i 

 only every two weeks. One week use 

 one kind of chemical fertilizer, next 

 week use a liquid of cow. chicken or 

 sheep manure. Never make any liquid 

 manure very strong. Better use it of- 

 tener but weak. 



Nitrate of soda and sulphate of am- 

 monia are two great stimulating fer- 

 tilizers. They induce rapid growth, 

 but will not make plants produce large 

 blooms. If only one kind of fertilizer 

 can be used, let it be bone meal and 

 phosphates. We have used with suc- 

 cess the fertilizer called blood, bone 

 and potash in o\ir potting soil for gera- 

 niums, roses and chrysanthemums. We 

 use about a (j-incli pot to a wheelbar- 

 row of sifted soil, mixing it well with 

 the soil. 



When fertilizers such as bone meal 

 or phosphates and blood, bone and pot- 

 ash, are tised, either on the bench or 

 in the potting soil, the soil should be 

 kept damp, as these fertilizers do not 

 do much good in dry soil. Therefore 

 it is best to use these in spring, sum- 

 mer and fall rather than in the dark 



