l.siU.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 241 



10. On Special Fertilization with Reference to Some 

 Prominent Industrial Crops, Fruits and Garden 

 Vegetables. 



One of the first requirements for a healthful condition and 

 subsequent successful propagation of any plant consists in 

 adopting a well-devised system of fertilization. 



A system of manuring may be called well devised or 

 rational when it is based upon the results of a careful exam- 

 ination into the composition of the plant under cultivation, 

 and on a due consideration of its natural qualifications for 

 availing itself of the needed plant food both from the atmos- 

 phere and the soil in question. When raised under other- 

 wise corresponding circumstances, plants with a well-de- 

 veloped and extensive root system may prosper where those 

 with a compact one will fail ; the same statement applies 

 with equal force to the character of their leaf systems. 



To ascertain with certainty the composition of a plant, 

 especially with reference to its soil constituents, requires 

 repeated examinations in difierent stages of its growth and 

 when raised upon different kinds of soil. The relations of 

 the various mineral constituents of the plant to its successful 

 development must be fairly understood to know what ele- 

 ments of plant food ought to be present in the soil, in an 

 available form, to render success possible. 



Most of our form plants have been carefully investigated, 

 and their requirements regarding kind and amount of the 

 various articles of plant food for their successful production 

 may be considered fairly well understood. This circum- 

 stance cannot be claimed with the same certainty regarding 

 the so-called "garden crops" and fruit-producing plants. 

 Our stock of information with regard to these is in an excep- 

 tional degree unsatisfactory. The slowness of the exhaustive 

 action of fruit trees on the soil, on account of their extensive 

 root systems, and the beneficial effect of a frequent rotation 

 of crops in case of garden plants, in connection with a cus- 

 tomary liberal supply of vegetable refuse material and of 

 home-made manures, have apparently delayed the need of a 

 scientific inquiry into the special wants of the garden and 



