504 



HORTICULTURE 



October 3, 1914 



ADAPTATION OF PLANTS TO 



SOILS. 



A paper by George E. Stone, Ph. D.. 

 Prof, of Botany, Mass. Agricultural College, 

 and Physiologist aud Pathologist of Mass! 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. Read be- 

 fore S. A. F. at Boston. 



Cauthnii'tl ft'oiii page ^77 



As previously stated, the chemical 

 processes in soils are extremely com- 

 plex and what may prove beneficial as 

 a fertilizer in one soil may not in an- 

 other; therefore many of the fertilizer 

 experiments conducted here and there 

 are contradictory. It is often possible 

 to grow good crops with fertilizers for 

 a few years, but later it becomes im- 

 possible to grow the same crops suc- 

 cessfully in these soils, indicating that 

 some change of an injurious nature 

 has taken place. 



During the past decade various 

 troubles arising from soil toxicity or 

 overfeeding, resulting in a malformed 

 crop, have been on the increase both 

 in the greenhouse and in the field. The 

 symptoms of mal-nutrition differ in 

 different species of plants. Sometimes 

 the roots are burned off owing to the 

 presence of an excess of some caustic 

 substance, but more commonly the 

 . leaves and stems are affected, the 

 leaves becoming abnormally colored 

 or they may become more or less con- 

 torted owing to the unequal develop- 

 ment of the tissues of the leaves. 

 Occasionally blisters are formed, and 

 often wilting and dying of the edges 

 of the leaf occurs. Mal-nutrition 

 arises from the imjirojier use of fer- 

 tilizers and manures and is more com- 

 monly met with in greenhouses than 

 ■elsewhere, cucumbers being one of 

 the most suscei)til)le plants to this 

 trouble. The use of nitrate of soda, 

 pig, hen and sheep manure, and occa- 

 sionally strong cow and horse manure, 

 accounts for most of this trouble. 



Mr. H. D. Haskins,* who has made 

 many chemical analyses of green- 

 house soils with special reference to 

 malnutrition, has found that in some 

 cases where mal-nutrition was com- 

 mon there was considerably more ni- 

 trogen and phosphoric acid in the 

 soils than in the best barnyard ma- 

 nure. The average analysis of some 

 abnormal soils which produced symp- 

 toms of mal-nutrition to cucumbers, 

 showed them to contain as high as 

 27 36.3 pounds of total water soluble 

 ^^''"es per acre as compared with 

 7,520 pounds per acre in normal soils 

 He found that the soluble nitrogen 

 was 1,156 pounds in the abnormal 

 soils as compared with 444 pounds for 

 the normal, while the potash was 

 f>,74,, pounds for the abnormal soils 

 against 1,328 for the normal. The sol- 

 uble phosphoric acid was 632 pounds 



w-^, J oL "°™''' *°"« as compared 

 with 208 pounds for the normal, which 

 sho;ys a marked excess in the water 

 soluble salines in the abnormal soils. 

 Mr. Haskin-s calculations sliow that 

 to furnish this amount of nitrogen it 



would require the application of 14% 

 tons of a formula testing 4 per cent, 

 nitrogen, 23 per cent, actual potash 

 and 2.25 per cent, available phosphoric 

 acid per acre. 



From these observations on mal- 

 nutrition, which is constantly on the 

 increase, we cannot too strongly ad- 

 vise florists to go very slowly in their 

 use of fertilizers or special manures 

 on their crops. The practice of 

 changing the soil each year obviates 

 this trouble to a great extent; al- 

 though such crops as lettuce can be 

 grown in the same soil for years with- 

 out change when decomposed horse 

 manure is applied each year. Cucum- 

 bers and tomatoes, however, need an 

 occasional change of soil to bring 

 thorn to their highest perfection, while 

 the high feeding usually given to car- 

 nations and roses renders the soil ill 

 adapted to constant use. In one case 

 where we grew American Beauty 

 Roses in a soil composed of one-third 

 loam, one-third pulverized sod and 

 one-third fresh cow manure, together 

 with the weekly use of liquid cow ma- 

 nure, we found it impossible to em- 

 ploy the soil the second year. When 

 a new rose crop was planted the roots 

 were abnormal from the beginning 

 and died; but when the soil was 

 washed out thoroughly it was found 

 to contain innumerable toxic sub- 

 stances and no further death of the 

 plants occurred. Market gardeners 

 have found, and their observations 

 have been borne out by experiments, 

 that decomposed horse manure consti- 

 . tutes the best manure for their crops, 

 and when commercial fertilizers are 

 employed soil trouble may invariably 

 be looked for. When we know more 

 about the complex condition of the 

 soils and the plant's requirements we 

 may be able to make more extensive 

 use of commercial fertilizers and spe- 

 cial manures; but at the present time 

 greenhouse managers must experi- 

 ment cautiously. 



To conclude, we may say that the 

 highest conception of intensive agri- 

 culture has been realized by florists 

 and market gardeners; and one rea- 

 son why they do not receive more 

 help from the experiment station is 

 because their knowledge of plants and 

 skill in handling them far exceed that 

 of the men devoting their time to 

 scientific research. When these work- 

 ers begin to realize the great degree 

 of skill possessed by the florists and 

 market gardeners perhaps they may 

 be able to suggest some ideas that 

 will be of value. 



• Mass. Agrl. Exp. Sta., 25th Ann. Re- 

 port, Pt. II 191,3, p. 71. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



The Annual Report of the Wiscon- 

 sin State Horticultural Society, a 

 bound volume of 140 pages, is re- 

 ceived. It is a carefully compiled and 

 useful book, well illustrated, and as 

 the membership dues are but fifty 

 cents a year, every man and woman 



More Red Devil Cutters Used Annually Than All Others Comhined 



I HMITH ft HEMBNWAT CO.. . 



Send 6c. for gample No. 024 

 and Booklet 40 styles, and 

 nnfleretand why. 

 SEND FOR nOOKLBT ANT- 

 HOW. 



1«1 CHAMBERS ST., NEW TOBK 



BAILEY'S NEW STANDARD 



Cyclopedia of Horticulture 



Six large quarto volumes. 

 More than 3,600 pages. 24 

 exquisite full-page color 

 plates. 96 full-page sepia 

 halftones and more than 

 4,000 text engravings. 500 

 collaborators. Approxi- 



mately 4,000 genera, 15,000 

 species and 40,000 plant 

 names. 

 The new Standard Cyclopedia of 

 Horticulture has been freshly writ- 

 ten in the light of the most recent 

 research and experience. It is not 

 merely an ordinary revision or cor- 

 rected edition of the old Cyclo- 

 pedia, but it is a new work from 

 start to finish with enlarged bound- 

 aries geographically and practical- 

 ly; it supersedes and displaces all 

 previous editions or reprints of ev- 

 ery kind whatsoever. It is both 

 an Encyclopedia and a Manual, for 

 with the aid of its Synopsis and 

 Key, amateur and professional 

 alike may quickly identify any 

 plant, shrub or fruit contained 

 within the set, and then receive ex- 

 pert instructions for its cultivation. 

 Price $6.00 per volume. Two vol- 

 umes have now been issued and 

 the others will follow in succes- 

 sion. Order from 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 



j 11 Hamilton Place, Boston, Mass. 



in the state should be a member. A 

 "black list" of shrubs tested at the 

 grounds of the experiment station at 

 Madison and found unsatisfactory, 

 looks to us very disheartening. We 

 should almost hesitate about living in 

 a climate where we could not have 

 azaleas, daphnes, forsythias, deutzias, 

 and other favorites in our garden, but 

 there are other good things that are 

 recommended as all right and no doubt 

 Wisconsin is a fine place to live in. 



Three bulletins dealing with orchard 

 problems are Nos. 383, 387 and 388 of 

 the New York Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, Geneva. The first of 

 these presents what is probably the 

 final word of the Station on the till- 

 age and sod-mulch discussion; the 

 second announces methods by which 

 the pear psylla has been successfully 

 controlled by many orchardists; and 

 the third discusses those little known 

 but most interesting insects, the tree 

 crickets. Any or all of these bulletins 

 may be secured without cost by a re- 

 quest sent to the Station. 



We learn from the bulletin of the 

 Mt. Hermon School, department of ag- 

 riculture, Mt. Hermon, Mass., that 

 more than 150 000 fine seedlings have 

 been planted on the school hillside. 

 Fruit growing, harvesting and market- 

 ing and the care of lawns, shrubbery 

 and forest, also vegetable gardening, 

 outside and under glass are important 

 courses in the regular instruction. 



PATENTS GRANTED. 



1,111,108. Weed-Cutter. .James A.Tal- 

 bot, Walla Walla, Wash. 



1.111,539. Soil Pulverizer. Plorian 

 .lozsiban, Maurer, N. Y. 



