January, 1913 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



hardest of dry clay and only nine inches 

 wide at the surface, where two and a 

 half feet in depth was required. This 

 method moves the minimum of earth and 

 gives plenty of room for laying the tile. 



The same method applies to filling the 

 ditch. Most beginners make the mis- 

 take of making too wide a ditch. This 

 entails double labor both in digging and 

 filling. 



Commercial Fertilizers— A Deply to Criticisms 



J. B. Dandeno, Ph. D., 



Permit me to reply to criticisms in the 

 December issue of The Canadian Horti- 

 culturist, on my communication relative 

 to commercial fertilizers, which appear- 

 ed in The Canadian Horticulturist for 

 November. Mr. Emslie, of the German 

 Potash Syndicate, opposes my argument 

 and I take exception to his statements. 

 He states that I cling to "old and dis- 

 credited theories." My assertions on 

 fertilizers are the result of thirteen years 

 of research work on "soils and plants," 

 after eight years of university training 

 for the work. My conclusions have ma- 

 tured within the last six years and are 

 based upon experimental research, chief- 

 ly in the Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege. The views are discredited, I think, 

 only by those unacquainted with the de- 

 tails. 



Mr. Emslie defines plant food thus : 

 "We only know that plants draw on 

 the soil for certain substances entering 

 into their composition." From this we 

 must include copper as a food, be- 

 cause it is found in many plants, notably 

 wheat. But copper is a poison except 

 in the most minute quantities. The plant 

 would be better without it. The copper 



(Harv.), Bowmanville 



is taken in by a physical action purely. 

 The definition fails because it includes 

 what is clearly not a food. 



Take Mr. Fox's definition: "Plant 

 food is any substance that is worked 

 into the soil that will cau.se it to pro- 

 duce a better crop." Now, oxygen 

 will, under these conditions, produce a 

 better crop, and yet it does not enter the 

 plant at all. So will several other sub- 

 stances acting as catalysers. These 

 could hardly be called foods since they 

 do not enter the plant. A whip might 

 make a horse do more work, but sure- 

 ly a whip is not an anirnal food. A 

 curry-comb may cause a steer to put 

 on more beef, but a curry-comb is not 

 a stock food. Yet this is the logical 

 conclusion from that definition. 



OASES DISSIMILAR 



Dr. Emslie says: "Dr. Dandeno might 

 state with equal aptitude that the food 

 which we eat does not nourish our 

 bodies." Not at all, these cases are not 

 parallel. We are nourished entirely dif- 

 ferently from any Chlorophyll-bearing 

 plant. There is no comparison, because 

 the plant organizes it own "food" and 

 the animal consumes what has been or- 



ganized. Unless we assume a fungus 

 plant, there is no comparison, and even 

 then I disclaim connection with "we." 



That more than half the money spent 

 in artificial fertilizers is wasted is very 

 plain to those familiar with the prob- 

 lem. Here is a fact supporting this es- 

 timate. In the Geneva, N. Y. , Experi- 

 ment Station an experiment now going 

 on eleven years continuously with an ap- 

 ple orchard, shows these results, quoting 

 from Bui. 339, p. 188, 191 1 : — "The final 

 conclusion must be that the trees in this 

 experiment would be practically as well 

 off in every respect had not an ounce of 

 fertilizer been used." Four types of fer- 

 tilizers were tested, and this experiment 

 is the most reliable in America. 



Mr. Emslie says further: "The ma- 

 jority of fertilizers are of mineral ori- 

 gin. " At a glance one cdn see that that 

 is not a fair statement. Here are the 

 fertilizers in common use : Bone meal, 

 dried blood, guano, fish products, 

 slaughter house products, cotton seed, 

 night soil, sewer sludge — all organic. 

 Even wood ashes and nitrate of soda are 

 of organic origin. The chief mineral 

 fertilizers are phosphates and potassium 

 compounds. But an average soil will 

 contain enough phosphates to last for 

 two hundred and fifty years, and enough 

 potassium to last for a thousand years. 

 These are not necessarily all available 

 at once. 



As to Mr. Fox's challenge, I grant 

 him at once. The manure would likely 

 produce an increased crop and the pock- 



A Sample of the Very Fine E,hibit. of Apple, pul up by Priv.te Concern, at the recent Ontario Horticultur.l.;Exhibition in Toronto 



