i8gS. 



GARDENING. 



299 



applied. Mechanical pulverizing, if sup- 

 plemented by treatment with sulphuric 

 acid, or by steaming or boiling, in case of 

 raw bone, will add to their availability. 

 Bone black and bone ash are less valuable 

 preparations of bone, because they are 

 less available and minus the nitrogen 

 which was driven off by the heat used in 

 their preparation. Thomas or basic 

 slag, which is a residue from the smelting 

 of certain iron ores is becoming quite 

 popular. 



POTASH, THE BACK HONK. 



The back-bone of all truit manures has 

 been truly said to be potash. It gives 

 color and solidity and good flavor to all 

 kinds of fruits. At least, these characters 

 are found to invariably follow the use, or 

 presence of potash in the soil. Its action 

 •upon all parts of the tree, plant or vine 

 is highly beneficial. It seems to give the 

 whole structure an appearance of vigor 

 productiveness, stability and beauty. We 

 may not know just how it acts upon the 

 plant treeorlruit, tomake them vigorous, 

 beautiful or well flavored, but that it does 

 it we do certainlj- know. It is like meat 

 to the hungry day-laborer, like bread to 

 the nursing mother, or like pure air and 

 freedom to the humming bird. Strength, 

 productiveness and beauty seem to follow 

 its application to the soil. 



There are in many soils, deposited by 

 nature, quantities suffi ient to last for 

 many successive crops, but the available 

 amounts will become exhausted in time, 

 and then we must resort to means of 

 replenishing. Cultivationand deeprooted 

 plants, like red clover, will by degrees 

 make available or unlock the stores of 

 nature, by dissolving and bringing from 

 the subsoil that which was otherwise 

 unavailable. Water does its part of the 

 work, too. In a cry soil or a droughty 

 season it is impossible for the potash, or 

 for that matter, for any other manurial 

 elements to become soluble and in condi- 

 tion to be absorbed by the rootlets. They 

 are as powerless to avail themselves of 

 the food within their reach as a horse 

 would be to eat the food in his box when 

 he was muzzled 



As to the sources of potash, aside from 

 that which' may be had in wood ashes 

 and in stable and farm manures, they are 

 all found in the several forms of German 

 potash salts. They are all soluble in 

 waterandquiteavailable. What is known 

 as muriate of potash isperhapsthecheap- 

 est form in which to buy potash. As it 

 contains about fifty per cent of actual 

 potash, and is therefore much more con- 

 centrated and less bulky and weighty to 

 handle, there is a decided saving. Sul- 

 phate of potash is another form of about 

 the same content of potash and has abet- 

 ter effect on some crops than muriate, 

 but tor fruits the muriate is very suitable. 

 Kainit is a much less concentrated form, 

 being one of the crude products of the 

 German mines. It has only from twelve 

 to fourteen per cent of potash, the rest 

 being chiefly common salt. 



CONCENTRATED VS. BULKY MANURES. 



The matter of bulky manures is one 

 which the fruit grower as well as the 

 vegetable gardener and ordinary farmer 

 should consider well before buying, or 

 carting long distances, even without 

 other cost. There is very much of the 

 coarse manure that is merely trash and 

 water, with but a slight content of the 

 essentials, nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 

 potash. The straw and other bulk}' 

 material will be valuable in forming 

 humus as it decays in the soil. But these 

 questions come to the thinking man: 

 "Can I not produce the humus on the farm 



cheaper than to get it elsewhere? Could 

 I not get the same amount of manurial 

 constituents contained in coarse manures 

 much cheaper in the form of concentrated 

 commercial fertilizers?" In many cases 

 these questions have been emphatically 

 answered in the affirmative by actual 

 tests on the farm. In other cases they 

 have been differently answered, particu- 

 larly by vegetable gardeners. As has 

 already been stated, the fruitgrower may 

 grow leguminous crops in his orchards, 

 and to some extent, in his vineyards, and 

 berry patches also; thus, not only gain- 

 ing a large amount of nitrogen at 

 very little cost, but adding the needed 

 humus to the soil. There is really danger 

 of adding too much nitrogen to orchards 

 by the continual growing of leguminous 

 crops, and care should be exercised in this 

 wise. 



POTENCY OF POLLEN. 



There is one question that we perhaps 

 have not duly considered in connection 

 with the fertility of the soils of our 

 orchards and other fruit plantations 

 or the lack of it, and that is, the potency 

 or non-potency of their pollen. This sub- 

 ject was treated at length and in a most 

 thorough and suggestive manner by Dr. 

 R. C. Kedzie, of Michigan, at the last 

 meeting of the American Pomological 

 Society. There is little doubt that some- 

 times our trees fail to bear fruit that is 

 perfectly pollinated from the fact the trees 

 or plants are in such a low state of 

 vitality, that it is impossible for them to 

 produce potent pollen. We always aim to 

 have our breeding animals in the very 

 best possible state of vigor, and why 

 should we not treat our fruit trees and 

 plants in the same way? The source of 

 their profit to us lies mainly in their abil- 

 ity to be reproductive. Therefore we 

 should feed them with the best food and 

 plenty of it, if we expect them to set and 

 hold their fruit. 



As to the quantities of the different 

 manures or ingredients of suitable com- 

 positions to apply to fruit lands, that 

 will greatly depend on what there is 

 already in them in available forms, and 

 what are their structural and physical 

 conditions, and also somewhat upon the 

 kinds of fruits to be grown. In any case 

 the soil should be made rich in potash. 

 Phosphoric acid should also abound in 

 fair proportions, and nitrogen should not 

 be neglected. But care must be taken not 

 to get too much of it. Whatever the 

 chemist or the theorist may say or advise, 

 the soil and the crop must be the final 

 test as to what and how much is best. 

 But it is quite safe to say that, in ordi- 

 nary soils, and with almost any species 

 or variety of fruit, where nitrogenous 

 crops or stable manures have not been 

 largely used, there will be favorable 

 results from the annual application of the 

 following mixture: 



Muriate of potash 200 pounds. 



Dissolved bone 200 " 



Nitrate of soda 100 " 



This may be varied by leaving out the 

 nitrate of sody if nitrogen is applied in 

 the coarse manures. Or, superphosphate 

 from phosphate rock may be used instead . 

 of dissolved bone. 



Whatever is done or not done, it is 

 unreasonable to expect profitable crops 

 of luscious and highly colored fruit from 

 orchards, vineyards or berry patches that 

 are not intelligently and abundantly 

 fertilized. 



Societies. 



Muskegon County Horticultural 

 Society, Muskegon, Mich. — The county 

 organization will entertain the state 

 society here at the June meeting. 



The Rock River Valley Horticul- 

 tural Association, Dixon, Ills. — This 

 society held a basket picnic on June 9. 

 The afternoon was devoted to a dis- 

 cussion of berry culture, in which D wight 

 Herrick, of Rochelle, Prof. Hartwell, of 

 Dixon. C R. Powell, Chas. Hey, Stewart 

 Wilson and others participated. 



Redlands Horticultural Club, Red- 

 lands, Cal. — The last meeting of the 

 year was held June 8 and was very 

 largely attended. Prof. C R. Paine and 

 E. A. Moore read papers upon the ques- 

 tion of commercial fertilizers to prevent 

 fruit, particularly oranges, from dropping 

 from trees. Others joined in the dis- 

 cussion and the expression was almost 

 unanimous in favor of the use of such 

 fertilizers. 



Connecticut Horticultural Society. 

 — We have received the list of premiums 

 offered by the Connecticut Horticultural 

 Societv for competition at its exhibitions 

 of 1898 and spring of 1899. The exhibi- 

 tions will be held in June, July (sweet 

 peas), September, November (chrysanthe- 

 mums), and March 28,29and30 (flower- 

 ing bulbs, roses and carnations). Copies 

 of the list may be had on application to 

 the secretary, C. M. Rogers, Beacon street, 

 Hartford, Conn. 



0. B. Galusha, for many years secre- 

 tary of the Illi ois State Horticultural 

 Society, died today at Peoria, aged 78. 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 



The twenty-third annual convention of 

 the American Association of Nurserymen 

 was in session at Omaha on June 8 and 9. 

 About 150 members participated in the 

 business and pleasures of the meeting. 



The address of the president, Irving 

 Rouse, of Rochester, N. Y„ outlined the 

 action of the body as his suggestions 

 were closeh- followed. He said in part: 



"Without the aid of this association the 

 nursery schedule in the Dingley tariff act, 

 of which we are expecting so much, would 

 never have been enacted. The federal 

 law, or San Jose scale act, now before 

 congress, and which we hope will shortly 

 become a law, was only accomplished by 

 the united efforts of this association. 



"On March 18 the Dominion houses of 

 parliament passed what is known as the 

 Canadian exclusion act. This act bars 

 out of Canada all nurserr stock. It is 

 estimated that at least $500,000 worth 

 of nursery stock had been sold from the 

 state of New York alone in Canada, a 

 great portion of it at retail on which 

 commissions had already been paid, and 

 not a dollars worth of which could be 

 shipped. A protest was at once lodged 

 at Washington, but the governor-general 

 of Canada refused to suspend all or any 

 part of the law, not even excepting the 

 stock already covered by previous con- 

 tract. 



"In view of this state of affairs it seems 

 very desirable that this association take 

 some action looking to a rescinding of" 

 this law or to retaliation; if the former 

 cannot be accomplished, under the federal 

 scale act the secretary of agriculture 

 would have the power to bar Canadian 

 fruit out of the United States for the same 

 reason that Canadians bar our trees, and 

 with more justice. I would suggest that 

 this whole matter be thoroughly discussed 

 and placed in the hands of our legislative 

 committee." 



The San Jose scale and legislation 



