100 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



the availability of the plant food elements present in the soil." 

 This means that in order to find out just what is best for your soil, 

 you must conduct experiments yourself. Whether now or later on, 

 the day is bound to come to most of us when we will have to do this 

 and the sooner we get at it, the better it will be. 



FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS AT HOME 



As an example of how one can determine in a simple way just 

 what benefits a certain soil, take, for instance, a bench of Carnations 

 which up to December first has received no feeding of any sort, and 

 is in a healthy condition. Say the bench is 4 ft. by 100 ft. Divide 

 the length into six equal parts, and on the first, starting from one end 

 put on a layer of tankage about J^-in. in thickness ; on the second put 

 a layer not quite so heavy of bonemeal and sheep manure mixed ; 

 on the third, blood and bone; then skip one section. On the fifth, 

 apply a layer of a 12-2 fertilizer; and on the sixth, or last, a 2-10-4 

 mixture. Work them all into the soil and follow with a good water- 

 ing. Of course you can divide into smaller spaces and use still other 

 mixtures, so long as you have division lines and keep each plat 

 properly labeled. Keep a careful record of the results. It isn't 

 likely that you will hurt anything, and if inside of six weeks you 

 notice no apparent change, you might apply a second dose of the 

 same sort. Then in six weeks more you should be able to tell exactly 

 what has benefited the plants most, though it may take a little 

 longer. 



Another way is to use different fertilizers in the potting of plants 

 and keep a record of their growth; still another is to apply some of 

 the plant foods to the compost pile. 



There are still some who cannot make themselves believe that 

 fertilizer can possibly be as good as manure. But each year more 

 people have to get along with less and less manure and while it 

 may seem foolish to predict it, the day when plants, fruits, cereals, 

 vegetables and flowers all will be grown to greater perfection than 

 ever before, without animal manure or anything of the animal in 

 the way of blood or bone, but merely chemicals and minerals scienti- 

 fically prepared and applied yet this day may come, and for no 

 other reason than that man will have no more use for animals. 



