174 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



is in a controlling degree within our individual direction. An 

 indifferent system of manuring I consider is at tlie root of a great 

 many well founded complaints of failure in various branches of 

 horticulture, and in fruit culture in particular. 



A system of manuring may be called well devised or rational 

 when it is based upon the results of a careful examination into 

 the composition of the plant under cultivation, and on a due con- 

 sideration of its natural qualitications for availing itself of the 

 needed plant food both from the atmosphere and the soil. Plants 

 with a well developed and extensive root system may prosper 

 where those with a compact one will fail ; and the same statement 

 applies with equal force to the character of their leaf system.* 



To determine with certainty the composition of a plant, espe- 

 cially with reference to its soil constituents, requires repeated ex- 

 amination in different stages of its growth, and when raised upon 

 different kinds of soil. The relations of the vari(jus mineral con- 

 stituents of the plant to its successful development must be 

 fairly understood to know what elements of plant food ought to be 

 present in the soil, in an available form, to render success pos- 

 sible. 



We may well ask, Can we claim any extensive knowledge re- 

 garding these points, in relation to many of our prominent species 

 of fruits or to many of those plants which, in the more limited 

 sense of the word, are known as " garden crops"? 



Our stock of information in these directions is in an exceptional 

 degree unsatisfactory. Whatever we know about the chemistry 

 of fruit trees and of special garden crops b}- any systematic inves- 

 tigation is of a late date, and in most instances thus far of a 

 fragmentary character. 



Tiie slowness of the exhaustive action of fruit trees on the soil, 

 on account of their extensive root system, and the beneficial re- 

 sults of a frequent rotation of crops, assisted by a liberal supply of 

 vegetable refuse material and of home-made manures, have ap- 

 parently delayed the need of a scientific inquiry into the special 

 wants of the orchard and garden on tlie part of agricultural 

 chemists. A sur[)lus in the qiiantit}' of manurial matter has no 

 doubt quite frequently provided for si)ecial wants; and in this view 



•See plate. In which a reprpflonts rye; /), turnii); c. siig.ar beet; d, carrot; e, lucerne 

 (Dr. Thcodor von (Johren's Die Na'iirgeseizliclien Griin ll:tgen des Pilanzcnbaues, p. 

 209); auU/, potato (Dr. Guido Kialir* Die I'llaiizuubauleUru, p. 147\ 



