COMMERCIAL AND SPECIAL FERTILIZERS. lOI 



quires those constituents which are shown to compose the 

 plant and fruit, and that the presence of each one in the 

 soil should be in proportion to the demand for it. It is 

 also equally plain that the supply of these essential elements 

 should be kept up in continued cultivation. Therefore, the 

 question naturally arises, what are strawberry plants and 

 fruit made of? Modern wine, we know, can be made with- 

 out any grape juice whatever, but as Nature compounds 

 strawberries in the open sunlight, instead of in back rooms 

 and cellars, she insists on all the proper ingredients before 

 she will form the required combination. 



"The Country Gentleman " gives a very interesting letter 

 from Prof. S. W. Johnson, of the Connecticut Experiment 

 Station, containing the following careful analysis made by 

 J. Isidore Pierre, a French writer. " Pierre," says the pro- 

 fessor, " gives a statement of the composition, exclusive of 

 water, of the total yield per hectare of fruit, taken up to 

 June 30, and of leaves, stems and runners, taken up to the 

 middle of August. These results, calculated in pounds per 

 acre, are the following (the plants contained 62.3 per cent 

 of water and the fruit 90 per cent) : — 



Composition of the water-ft-ee strawberry crop {except roots'), 

 at the middle of August, in pounds per acre, according 

 to Pierre : — 



Plants, Fruits. Totals. 



Organic matter, exclusive of nitrogen 4268.4 1053.5 5321-9 



Nitrogen 88.5 16.0 104.5 



Silica, iron and manganese oxides . 43.3 'o ? 48.6 



Phosphoric acid 35.3 5.4 40.7 



Lime 102.7 7.9 110.6 



Magnesia 16.1 .7 16.8 



Potash 89.1 19.7 108.8 



Soda 6.4 .9 7.3 



Other matters 120.9 8.8 129.7 



Dry substance 'I770.7 1118.2 5888.9" 



