March, 1913 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



61 



The Use of Commercial Fertilizers Defended* 



R. Innes, B.S.A., Manager Sandside Fruit Farm, Coldbrook, Nova Scotia 



resultant yields of poor quality. It is 

 true that some plants excrete certain 

 toxic substances which have been known 

 to retard the grow I h of other crops, but, 

 upon exposure to the air for a certain 

 time by plowing or by treating with lime 

 or some such neutralizer their injurious 

 effects soon \anish. 



"To supply a commercial fertilizer 

 with prospects of success at least three 

 things are necessary" — if Dr. Dandeno 

 had stopped there he would have been 

 air right, but he goes on to say — "first, 

 a knowledge of the effect of the prev- 

 ious crop on the soil ; secondly, a know- 

 ledge of the crop now to be grown and 

 its relation to the excreta of the previous 

 crop ; and thirdly, a knowledge of the 

 biology of the soil." We certainly 

 should take into consideration the effect 

 of the previous crop on the soil, the 

 amount of plant food that has been ap- 

 plied previously, the nature of the soil, 

 and the crop to be grown, but if a far- 

 mer has to wait unitl someone deter- 

 mines the relation of the crop to be 

 grown and the previous crops excreta 

 and the bacterial content of his soil be- 

 sides, before he can feel safe in apply- 

 ing a fertilizer, he had better sell his 

 farm at once as such information will 



Fertilizers "are not always suitable 

 to the land to which they have been 

 applied." Unfortunately this is some- 

 times the case. However, one firm with 

 whom the writer is familiar is paying 

 particular attention to this point, and 

 is placing experts in soil fertility in vari- 

 ous sections of the province of Ontario 

 to assist and advise their local repre- 

 sentatives in recommending suitable mix- 

 tures for farmers to use on the various 

 classes of soil they wish to fertilize. 

 They also maintain a laboratory in which 

 chemical and physical analysis of soils 

 are conducted, simply for the purpose of 

 endeavoring to eliminate the danger of 

 misapplication of their fertilizer mix- 

 tures. 



Dr. Dandeno says, "Plant excretions 

 are the chief cause of infertility, and it 

 is in the decomposition of such materials 

 that the application of fertilizers of any 

 kind proves of value." To the writer's 

 mind continued cropping without replac- 

 ing the plant food annually consumed is 

 what leads to soil impoverishment and 



•This article, th« first part of which wa« pub- 

 lished in our February issue, is the continuation 

 of a reply to an article on "Common Fertilizers" 

 by Dr. J. B. Dandeno, of Bowmanville, Ont., that 

 Horticulturist. Th« diecUBSion ia continued on 

 page 72 of this issue. 



*?..*'-^" 



A Well Sprayed Pear Orchard : That of Mr. Stirling at Kelowna, B.C. 



—Photo oopyrisrhted by O. H. E. Hudson, Kelowna, B. O. 



not be available for practical application 

 for some time to come. 



It is indeed amusing to farmers of 

 Nova Scotia and the other Maritime Pro- 

 vinces to hear of such criticisms in con- 

 nection with the use of commercial fer- 

 tilizers. We all use, and with excellent 

 results, on the average half a ton to the 

 acre and so far haven't had any intro- 

 duction to either the bacteria or plant 

 excretions supposed by Dr. Dandeno to 

 be so essential. If the farmers of On- 

 tario are baffled in this question I ven- 

 ture to say it is due to a large extent to 

 the publication of such ridiculous articles 

 as the one we now have reference to. 



"Certain fertilizers are adapted to cer- 

 tain crops and to certain soils." This, to 

 the writer's mind, is one of the few rea- 

 sonable statements in the doctor's ar- 

 ticle. Owing to this fact it is necessary 

 for the fertilizer rnanufacturer to place 

 at the disposal of the farmer mixtures of 

 different analysis. Thus we find on th<' 

 market a three-eight-six, a three-six-ten, 

 a four-eight-eight, and so forth, vary- 

 ing in price according to their plant food 

 content. It is necessary t6 determine just 

 what essential element your soil lacks 

 and then furnish it in the correct pro- 

 portion by selecting a mixture in which 

 the desired element is prominent. Al- 

 ways remember that the "plant food ele- 

 ment" which exists in the smallest quan- 

 tity governs the crop producing power 

 of the soil. 



WELL TAKEN POINTS 



All the points mentioned by the writer 

 of the article in question in connection 

 with barnyard manure were well taken 

 with the possible exception of a "neu- 

 tralizing effect on all plant excreta." 

 No one, not even a fertilizer manufac- 

 turer, condemns the use of barnyard 

 manure, but there are crops which can 

 be raised decidedly cheaper on fertilizers 

 in addition to which they ripen earlier 

 (as corn) and are of better quality (as 

 potatoes). Farmers are, as a rule, ac- 

 customed to think of manure as a bulky 

 article and want bulk for their money, 

 but we should remember that a little 

 of the substance required is better than 

 a good deal that is not needed. It is 

 reckoned that one ton of average com- 

 mercial fertilizer contains at least twenty 

 times as much plant food as a ton of the 

 Ix;st barnyard manure, and may be ap- 

 plied with one-twentieth the labor, 



"In buying and using commercial fer- 

 tilizers patent medicine chances are 

 taken." Most people when they get 

 "stung" would rather not let other 

 people know how they were taken in, 

 but the author of the above quotation 

 evidently does not believe in keeping it 

 a secret. Of course, this is purely an as- 

 sumption on the part of the writer, but 

 it looks a.s if Dr. Dandeno has at one 

 time or another been a victim of some 



