356 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTQRE. 



May 1. 



could see a horse eating grass on dry ground. I 

 tell you, I just loved that hoi'se. It was " love 

 at first sight" on my part;' yes, " I loved the 

 very ground he walked on." It was hard ground 

 —see? We told Mrs. Terry that weshouid prob- 

 ably be around to dinner by one o'clock; but 

 it must have been about that time when we first 

 got sight of that horse so comfortably located. 

 It did not make me sick, because, you see, my 

 " second wind " came in in just the nick of time. 

 Another thing. I did not have to carry Huber. 

 In fact, had Huber and I been alone, I should 

 have had to go somewhere for help. I asked 

 friend Terry a few days ago if it did not make 

 him sick with the hard work he did in carrying 

 Huber through the swamp. Here is the reply 

 he gave me, at the bottom of his postal card: 



Sick? Not much I en.ioyed " playing- liorse" with 

 Huber. T. B. T. 



I wonder if you remember of my speaking 

 some time ago about some vSterling strawberries 

 I ate one evenine when I got in late at friend 

 Terry's home. Well, if you have forgotten the 

 circumstance. I haven't. I am a great lover of 

 fine fruit; but as memory goes back I can not 

 say that I ever enjoyed any fruit more than I 

 did those strawberries on that particular night. 

 Well, after we got in from our raid in the swamp, 

 sure enough there were some Sterling strawber- 

 ries—some that Mrs. Terry had canned herself; 

 and they had the Sterling look and the inimit- 

 able Sterling fiavor of those I tasted before, 

 right from the vines. Perhaps several things 

 conduced to make these berries so very luscious. 

 In the first place, we were all three tired (just a 

 little) and hungry. Huber was not at all back- 

 ward in owning up that he was very hungry, 

 when interrogated. These strawberries are the 

 best tart berry. In my opinion, in the world. 

 They were grown on clover sod (of course), and 

 they were canned so as to lose little if any of 

 their color or flavor. After I had eaten one 

 large saucerful I was asked to have some more. 

 When I said I guessed I had had aplenty, friend 

 Terry insisted, and volunteered himself to fill up 

 my dish, and then he poured in a lot of that 

 ruby-colored juice. Said he: 



"Friend Root, I never drank any wine: in 

 fact, I am not sure that I know how wine tastes; 

 but if there is any wine in the world that can 

 compare either in looks or taste with this juice 

 from these canned berries, then it must be some- 

 thing delicious indeed." 



As I sipped spoonful after spoonful. I too con- 

 cluded that the world might have the wine, so 

 far as I was concerned, and I would take my 

 chances with the juice from the canned Ster- 

 lings. After din'.er we looked over the farm. 

 Oh yes! we did take a, little exercise first in get- 

 ting off the mud; and I was agreeably surprised 

 to find that the sort of mud they have out there 

 does not stick like Med'mo mud; and Robert 

 (Terry's only son) took Huber in hand and pol- 

 ished him up from head to foot, so that even his 

 own mother would hardly know he had been 

 through "the Slonsh of Despond" that morn- 

 ing. Then the Misses Terry gave us some 

 piano mu*ic that I could und'^rstand and enjoy 

 every note of. almost as easily as T did tliose 

 Sterling strawberries but a short time before. 

 Dear me! there was so much that was pleasant 

 inside of that Terry house, we shall really have 

 10 wait until next issue before we look around 

 outside. 



I received a sample copy of Gleanings. If it is a 

 fair sample of all the numbers, it certainly is im- 

 mense. I caug-lit severnl new ideas from the one 

 number. I will send in my subscription as soon as 

 lean A.C.Mitchell,. 



Enfield, III., Mar. 37. 



High-pressure Gardening. 



CHEMICAL FERTILiZERS; THE SUB.TECT REVIEW- 

 ED BY CHAS. r>ADANT. 



Friend. Root: — In reading, in Gleanings of 

 April 1, your article against chemical fertilizers, 

 I was greatly amazed; for I remembered the ex- 

 periment that you made a few years ago with 

 phosphate of lime scattered on rye, and the 

 wonderful results that you obtained. 



I have never been able to use these fertilizers; 

 yet I have studied the experiment made by Geo. 

 Ville at Versailles, Fiance, chemistry having 

 enabled the scientists to determine the chemical 

 elements which compose plants, of which ele- 

 ments four are organic and ten mineral; and ex- 

 periments having demonstrated that but one of 

 the organic, the nitrogen (or azote), can be ex- 

 hausted, and that but three of the minerals- 

 phosphorus, calcium (lime), and potassium, are 

 indispensable, the natural consequence was that, 

 as every crop takes fi'orn the soil most of the 

 elements of which its plants are composed, the 

 fertility of the ground decreases unless these 

 elements are restored to it— a restoration which 

 is difficult, if not impossible, by manure alone, as 

 a large part of it is wasted, and because the 

 grains raised on the farms are sold out. and the 

 animals are killed far from the soil which has 

 furnished them the material of which their 

 flesh, skins, and bones, are made. 



To help the farmers out of this difficulty, 

 about 3.5 years ago the French government in- 

 trusted Geo. Vilic witli the care of experiment- 

 ing on chemical fertilizers. This scientist began 

 by sowing some kernels of wheat in chinaware 

 pots, filled with burnt sand, to which he mixed 

 one or more of the chemical elements named 

 above; then he continued for several years on a 

 variety of soils, and with several kinds of plants; 

 and the result was the creation of the business 

 of chemical fertilizers, which spread over both 

 continents. 



The experiments of Geo. Ville demonstrated 

 that, if some of the necessary elements are used 

 alone, in a soil which does not contain. a suffi- 

 cient quantity of the others, the result is very 

 little more than if no fertilizer had been used; 

 while, on the other hand, if the other elements 

 are present in the ground, in sufficient quantity, 

 the results are marvelous. Such was the case 

 when you scattered phosphate on your rye. 



As the air contains about 79 per cent of azote 

 (nitrogen), the leaves of plants absorb more or 

 less of it. The quantity taken up by the legu- 

 minosa? (pulse family) even exceeds their needs, 

 and the surplus is stored in the ground by their 

 roots. Everybody knows that, if an exhausted 

 land is sown'with clover, it will recuperate some 

 of its lost fecundity. But the mineral elements, 

 taken away by succe.'^si ve crops of corn or wheat, 

 can not be restored by the sowing of clover, or 

 other plants of the same fainily, since these el- 

 ements stay in the earth and not in the atmos- 

 phere. 



As it would be too costly, if not about impos- 

 sible, to return these mineral elements to the 

 ground in a pure state, i. e., without being com- 

 bined with some other substances, it is indispen- 

 sable that the combinations be made with sub- 

 stances which increase ihe fecundity of the 

 soil instead of remaining inefficient, or noxious, 

 by decreasing the results anticipated. 



For instance, nitrogen can be given to the 

 land combined with sulphur (sulphate of am- 

 monia), or with sodium (nitrate of soda), or 

 with potassium (nitrate of potash). Thenitrate 

 of soda is far from being as good as the nitrate 

 of potash; for sodium does not exist in as large 



