June 28, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



603 



FERTILIZERS FOR FLORISTS 



IJy Dr. J. H. Wheeler, Formerly Director of the Rhode Island Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. 



There is no subject connected with 

 the use of fertilizers which is so diffi- 

 cult, so little understood, and regard- 

 ing which agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions have learned so little, as that of 

 the use of fertilizers in greenhouses. 

 The question is especially complicated 

 by the great variation in plant re- 

 quirements and by the varying suscep- 

 tibilities of different plants to injury 

 from different residual chemical sub- 

 stances which may accumulate in the 

 soil as a result of the manures used 

 or of the plants grown. 



The use of lime is intimately con- 

 nected with the use of fertilizer, since 

 lime not only affects the availability 

 of the fertilizers but also the ability 

 of the plants to thrive, so that they 

 can make proper use of the plant foods 

 which the fertilizer contains. The 

 whole subject of the effect of lime on 

 most of the flowering plants grown 

 under glass is still practically a 

 "sealed book." In order to illustrate 

 the difficulty of giving definite infor- 

 mation on these subjects, I can do no 

 better than refer to some of my earlier 

 experiments with fertilizers in a green- 

 house at the Rhode Island Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. 



In these experiments a subsoil was 

 used in the hope of avoiding fungous 

 or bacterial diseases and insects which 

 might prove injurious; at that time 

 many of the best growers were in the 

 habit of using subsoil for these rea- 

 sons. In one case hay and in another 

 case straw, cut in very short lengths, 

 was mixed with the soil and these 

 mixtures were compared with a mix- 

 ture of horse manure and soil. Two 

 different fertilizers were used in th» 

 experiment with the hay and with the 

 straw. In one of these fertilizers the 

 presence of residual sulphates and 

 chlorides was largely avoided by the 

 employment of such fertilizer materi- 

 als as would be likely to be complete- 

 ly or largely taken up by the plants. 

 Lettuce, radishes, and cucumbers 

 made a better growth with this fertili- 

 zer than with the one which contained 

 considerable amounts of sulphates and 

 chlorides, although a moderate appli- 

 cation of lime had been made in both 

 cases. With tomatoes, on the other 

 hand, distinctly better results were se- 



cured with the fertilizer containing 

 the greater amounts of sulphates and 

 chlorides. Whether this was due to 

 the fertilizer inducing a different 

 chemical reaction in the soil or to a 

 possible need of more sulphur by the 

 tomato plant, which the sulphate resi- 

 dues of the fertilizer furnished, I do 

 not know and never have had a chance 

 to ascertain. 



Where Lime Helped 



Similarly, in field experiments it 

 was found that lettuce, onions, 

 spinach, mignonette, and poppy were 

 absolutely unable to live on a soil 

 where the flowering perennial, Silene 

 orientalis, throve to perfection, al- 

 though an abundance of plant food 

 was present. The use of lime in this 

 case corrected the condition for all of 

 the plants. More recent investigations 

 by Dr. B. L. Hartwell and his associ- 

 ates lead to the belief that the injury 

 to the lettuce, mignonette, and other 

 plants was partly or largely due to the 

 presence In the soil of soluble alumi- 

 num compounds which had been 

 formed by the acid, chloride and sul- 

 phate residues of the fertilizer. If 

 soluble aluminum salts were the cause 

 of the injury they evidently had no 

 deleterious effect, or a much less seri- 

 ous one, upon other crops, of which 

 Silene orientalis is typical. This 

 whole question is evidently closely re- 

 lated to the soil reaction and the pos- 

 sible formation of injurious substances 

 when an excess of certain residual ma- 

 terials accumulates in the soil. 



Probably the best fertilizer for gen- 

 eral use is one which is compounded so 

 that it will not leave any excessive 

 residue of salts and will not be likely 

 to affect seriously the soil reaction, 

 provided the reaction is suitable at 

 the outset. In the case of some special 

 crops, however, an acidic or basic 

 fertilizer may be required, although 

 this depends upon the chemical re- 

 action of the soil at the outset and the 

 amount of lime or alkaline, animal 

 manure used. There is no positively 

 best fertilizer for all conditions and 

 for all plants, regardless of whether 

 they are grown under glass or in the 

 field. 



Fertilizers for Carnations 



Different greenhouse plants also 

 vary considerably in regard to the 

 amount of the different fertilizing in- 

 gredients which they require. Even 



different varieties of the same species 

 have their distinct characteristics. A 

 striking example of this was afforded 

 several years ago in some experiments 

 conducted with carnations. It was 

 found that when the three varieties, 

 Lizzie McGowan, Hector, and William 

 Scott, were grown in the same room 

 under identical temperature condi- 

 tions, much more nitrogen could be 

 used for the Hector than for either 

 of the other varieties. If the best 

 amount of nitrogen for the Hector was 

 used it was sufficient to cause a seri- 

 ous splitting of the calyx of the Will- 

 iam Scott and a considerable splitting 

 in the case of the Lizzie McGowan. I 

 never had a chance to determine 

 whether the large amounts of nitrogen 

 that were used with the best results 

 for the Hector could have been used 

 with safety for the other varieties had 

 they been in a house kept at a lower 

 temperature. 



With the replacement of the horse 

 by the automobile, the problem of how 

 we can best supplement small amounts 

 of manure and other organic materi- 

 als with fertilizers is becoming in- 

 creasingly important. Let us hope that 

 some agricultural experiment stations 

 will soon delve into these problems 

 more deeply and seriously than any 

 of them have heretofore, in order that 

 a greater fund of definite information 

 may become available. 



MASSACHUSETTS FLORISTS. 



The engagement is announced of 

 Samuel B. Crombie, proprietor of the 

 Beverly Flower shop, to Miss Lillian 

 Singer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 

 Singer of Essex. 



The Greenfield Tap and Die corpora- 

 tion has taken over the Sunny Dell 

 greenhouse property at Greenville. Mr. 

 and Mrs. E. A. Richards, have conduct- 

 ed the business for the past 19 years. 

 For the present the greenhouse busi- 

 ness will be carried on in the same 

 manner as it has in the past, with 

 Charles A. Thayer, who has been Mr. 

 Richard's assistant for many years as 

 manager. Mr. and Mrs. Richards have 

 worked very hard during the years 

 which they have conducted the green- 

 house, and feel that they are entitled 

 to a vacation. Mr. Richards has been 

 a leader in the cultivation of carna- 

 tions, and has originated several varie- 

 ties, winning prizes with them at na- 

 tional floral exhibitions. For a time 

 he plans to assist Mr. Thayer in hand- 

 ling the business. 



