42 TRUCK FARMING 



to anchor and hold plants upright, in other words, a mere 

 anchoring ground through whose agency, however, the necessary 

 food is prepared, stored and supplied as demanded. Should we 

 hand this remaining ash to a chemist for analysis, he would tell 

 us that iHs made up of silicon, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, 

 sodium, aluminum, sulphur, iron, chlorine, and magnesium, these 

 being the principal elements that plants take from the soil. 

 Chemists have further settled the fact that nearly all of the ele- 

 ments that enter the composition of plants are found in all soils, 

 leaving but nitrogen, potash and phosphorus to be supplied in more 

 or less quantity, to promote a satisfactory growth, and these will 

 be the elements we will be called on chiefly to discuss as commer- 

 cial fertilizers. 



Dealers had formerly a great bugbear to contend with, inas- 

 much as the agriculturist was slow to adopt these "new-fangled 

 artificial fertilizers" they were not bulky enough to suit, neither 

 did they, in his opinion, have the damp beneficial effect contained 

 in compost. Another objection was that they were not supposed 

 to leave any nourishment in the ground for the following crops. 

 This is now conceded to be an argument in their favor, the plant 

 food in them being in such digestible condition that the crop can 

 get the larger proportion. 



The inexperienced farmer is, however, still apt to think they 

 will run out his soil, and one grower when told by a fertilizer 

 agent how concentrated his goods were, mentioning he could 

 carry in his coat pocket the necessary equivalent of a load of 

 compost, was promptly told he could probably carry the resulting 

 crop in the other pocket. However, experience has now disproven 

 these foolish assertions. In the first place, to make a good crop 

 the plants must be fed a well balanced ration and a great risk 

 is incurred by applying a fertilizer that is deficient in any one of 

 the three necessary ingredients ; and unless one is fully aware of 

 the fact that the element left out in the fertilizer is already abun- 

 dantly supplied in the soil, he is apt to suffer a decided loss. 



A careful analysis of any given soil will frequently fail to 

 disclose even a trace of ammonia, potash or phosphate, and as 



