October 31. 1908 



H ORTI CULTURE 



571 



llif cuttings are aicelj rooted, they should be potted 

 singly into three-inch pots and then kept near the glass 

 to prevent, them from being drawn. About the begin- 

 ning of April we shift them into six-inch pots where 

 they remain until potted into their flowering pots early 

 in June. To secure a good bushy plant, pinching 

 should continue until the end of June when they should 

 be stopped for the last time. If at all possible they 

 should be grown outdoors until the buds begin to show, 

 when they may be removed under glass. For pot cul- 

 ture the following list contains, I believe, the cream of 

 the early flowering section : 



Carrie, deep yellow; Crawford, white; Crimson Ma- 

 rie Masse, a beautiful deep bronze; Fee Japonaise, 

 white, shaded rose; Goacher's Crimson, a very bright 

 crimson, does best disbudded; Horace Martin, bright 

 yellow; Mdm. Marie Masse, lilac mauve, one of the best; 

 Maggie, canary yellow, very dwarf; Mdm. Casimer Per- 

 l'ier, creamy white, shaded pink, makes a perfect pot 

 plant; Louis Lemaire. bronze, best disbudded; Mytehett 

 White, a beautiful flower, very early; Eobbie Burns, 

 rosy cerise, very fine ; White Quintus, the most profitable 

 market white grown, an indispensable sort for the flor- 

 ist; Sally, light pink: Tangiers, reddish orange, a lovely 

 shade; Ralph Curtis, pure white; Mrs. Baird, peach 

 pink; Ryecroft Glory, golden yellow, a fine pot plant. 



North Easton, 

 Mass. 



■^m. 



Fertilizers 



THE NATURE 01? CRYSTALLINE WATER-SOLUBLE FERTI- 

 LIZERS. 



Before we knew as much of science as we do today it 

 was supposed that animals and plants, being endowed 

 with that incomprehensible mystery termed life, must 

 perforce be very different from the mineral or "dead"' 

 world. This is true but not to the extent often im- 

 agined. There is no sharp line between these : no man 

 may say, "This is dead," or "This is alive," at least 

 not in the case of the simpler forms of life. But it is 

 glaringly evident that the "live" world with its plants 

 and animals is infinitely the more complex, and yet the 

 mineral world commonly considered comparatively 

 simple, is not without its vast uncharted depths. 



Vegetable life chemically considered has much to do 

 with a certain substance, carbon, which, at once so rare 

 in the mineral world while so plenteous and important 

 in plants or animals, becomes a loose criterion between 

 these two great classes. Chemists call carbon-contain- 

 ing things, organic ; without this element, inorganic, in 

 which class are most of the soluble fertilizers of today, 

 one exception being the new cyanamide. 



One of the star attractions in the mineral tent is the 

 curious and common process known as crystallization, a 

 most interesting and important branch of chemistry 

 and well worth our attention here, even if it is a 

 science by itself, as shown in such a fascinating way in 

 the cabinet of the mineralogist, who knows something 

 about it too. 



We may dissolve of a soluble salt like copper sulphate 

 (blue vitriol) or a soluble plant food only so much in 

 water according to the substance and the temperature. 

 and no more. The reverse process may be gone through 

 by boiling off some water or cooling it at some point 

 known in advance: the crystals will form much as they 

 existed before they were dissolved. The copper sul- 

 phate will be blue and every crystal will be of the 



proper shape, color and, note this — of exact composi- 

 tion. 



These two marvels of crystallization — form and com- 

 position — are of wide application to the manufacture 

 of soluble fertilizers and indeed all "salts," as chemical 

 combinations of acids ami alkalies are called, as are also 

 most soluble fertilizers. 



Owing to grinding, the form of the crystals is not 

 usually seen but what is invisible and of the greatest 

 importance is the composition. A pure crystal has 

 always a certain fixed proportion of elements; if sulfate 

 of ammonia always so much ammonia, always so much 

 sulphate — no more, no less, — invariable. Why then, 

 you ask, are not all salts of the same composition ? Be- 

 cause the removal of the pure crystals from the solution 

 is not always inexpensive and when the solution is 

 evaporated impurities outside the crystal are gathered 

 up too. Absolutely pure articles may be made by re- 

 crystallizations as is often done with powerful drugs, 

 but is too costly ordinarily, especially as many impuri- 

 ties are not only harmless but may be even beneficial. 

 We are trying to explain why commercial chemicals are 

 not usually pure, and that the purchaser should care 

 mostly about the amount of the material he wants in 

 the chemical purchased, and the price paid should be in 

 exact proportion to this and not to the degree of purity, 

 if the impurity is innocuous. 



Now let us consider this a moment more. Knowing 

 that these crystals have an unvarying composition and 

 knowing the per cent, impurity we are yet enabled to 

 calculate exactly how much of each ingredient is in 

 there. If we know Nitrate of Soda is 95 per cent, we 

 may at once calculate how much Nitrogen is present 

 unless the impurity had some Nitrogen, which is 

 highly improbable. 



Along with the shape and composition of the crystal is 

 included its "water of crystallization/' as it is called. In 

 the case of Copper Sulphate there are always 5 "waters" 

 which would make about a third water, but note, this 

 is no adulteration; in fact lack of water would be a 

 falsification, for pure crystals would have all this water. 

 For most purposes, however, the copper is what is most 

 desired and if the crystals look whitish some of the 

 water has gone and the buyer is getting more copper for 

 his money. 



Of the list below of soluble crystalline chemicals we 

 will note the water usually found in sodium acid phos- 

 phate is half the whole crystal, and in buying this 

 chemical this should be taken into consideration and 

 the actual phosphate present should be asked for. The 

 other chemicals mentioned have no water except some- 

 times Kain.it. Of course this water of crystallization 

 may be dried off but in the case of the phosphate this 

 makes such changes that the result can hardly be called 

 soluble. 



Commercial soluble chemicals for fertilizers, all 

 white dry crystals if pure, and made on commercial 

 scale : 



Nitrogerircarrying : Nitrate of Soda, Ammonium Sulphate, 

 Nitrate of Potash, Ammonium Phosphate, Ammonium 

 Nitrate. 



Phosphorus-carrying: Sodium Acid Phosphate, Mono- 

 Ammonium Phosphate, Potassium Phosphate. 



Potash-carrying : Sulphate of Potash, Carbonate of Pot- 

 ash. Kainit (Impure mixed with Magnesium, if pure would 

 be Chlorid of Potash). Phosphate of Potash. 



We hardly need to add that all these are not of equal 

 value, chemically or from the horticultural point of 

 view, of which we have more to say later. 



