FERTILIZERS 



FESSENDEN 



581 



leaf and branch. If the quick-acting nitrogenous fer- 

 tilizers are applied late, or if too large applications of 

 the slower-acting nitrogenous materials are applied 

 early, the tendency is to provide for a continuous feed- 

 ing on nitrogen, and thus encourage an undue develop- 

 ment of leaf and branch, which does not permit the 

 ripening of the wood before the beginning of winter. 

 Thus, on these soils, in addition to an annual appli- 

 cation of the basic formula, from 100 to 150 pounds of 

 nitrate of soda, 200 pounds of acid phosphate and 100 

 pounds of muriate of potash should be applied early in 

 the season and carefully worked into the soil. 



PLUMS, CHERRIES AND APRICOTS. The fertilizing 

 of these fruits, when grown on the different classes of 

 soils, need not differ materially from that recommended 

 for peaches under the same conditions, though cherries, 

 particularly, require, in addition, a relatively greater 

 supply of lime, which should be applied at the rate of 

 30 bushels per acre once in about five years, and thor- 

 oughly incorporated with the soil. 



SMALL FRUITS AND BERRIES. These, in respect to 

 their general character, correspond more nearly with 

 the vegetable crops than with the cereal grains or fruits, 

 hence, in most cases, natural sources of plant-food are 

 ignored, and the more quickly available materials, par- 

 ticularly nitrogenous and phosphatic, applied. 



In the case of strawberries, it is desirable that the 

 soil in which the plants are set should be supplied with 

 soluble and available phosphoric acid ; hence an appli- 

 cation, broadcast previous to setting, of from 500 to 800 

 pounds per acre of the mixture No. 1, is recommended. 

 The nitrogen should also be in quickly available forms, 

 and should be supplied in sufficient quantities at time 

 of setting the plant to enable it to mature, and thus to 

 better withstand the rigors of winter. Hence, an addi- 

 tional application of 100 pounds of dried blood, or its 

 equivalent in nitrate of soda or ammonia, is advisable, 

 particularly on soils not previously well enriched with 

 organic nitrogenous matter. In the spring of the sea- 

 son during which the first crop is harvested, dressing 

 with a quick-acting fertilizer, rich in nitrogen, is de- 

 sirable, carefully applied between the rows, and prefer- 

 ably worked into the soil. 



Raspberries and blackberries also require a soil well 

 enriched with the mineral elements, to insure an 

 abundant and strong growth of canes. The need for ni- 

 trogen, while apparent, is less marked than in the case 

 of the strawberries, and the slower-acting forms serve 

 a good purpose, provided they are not applied in too 

 great quantities, so as to encourage a large growth of 

 plant, which does not fully mature. An annual applica- 

 tion of mixture No. 2 is recommended at the rate of 400 

 to 600 pounds per acre. 



Currants and gooseberries are less likely to need ni- 

 trogen than the other berry crops, because of the ten- 

 dency to the development of mildew. In common with 

 the other crops mentioned, they should be abundantly 

 supplied with the minerals (phosphoric acid and potash) , 

 and mixture No. 1 may be used at the rate of 500 to 

 1,000 pounds per acre. 



GRAPES. Grapes are more exhaustive than most of 

 the fruit crops, largely because of the larger total crop 

 harvested, and the special need is for phosphoric acid 

 and potash. These elements may be supplied by mix- 

 tures No. 1 or No. 2, and very liberal dressings are rec- 

 ommended from 800 to 1,500 pounds per acre annu- 

 allyafter the bearing period begins. 



ROSES AND OTHER FLOWERING PLANTS. In the grow- 

 ing of flowers and herbaceous plants, phosphoric acid is 

 particularly needed, and it has been demonstrated that 

 ground bone is one of the most useful forms from which 

 to obtain it, since it furnishes both nitrogen and phos- 

 phoric acid in slowly available forms. A good mixture 

 for both the field and prepared soils may consist of four 

 parts of ground bone and one of muriate of potash, ap- 

 plied at the rate of four pounds per square rod, and 

 preferably worked into the soil previous to setting the 

 plants ; the after application may be made in the fall 

 at the same rate. 



VEGETABLE CROPS. Vegetables constitute a group of 

 plants distinguished from all others, both because of 

 their peculiar habits and of their purposes of growth. 

 Both having an important bearing upon fertilization, 



they should all be supplied with an abundance of avail- 

 able food. Since nitrogen is the one element that more 

 than any other stimulates leaf and stem growth, its use 

 is extremely beneficial for all of these crops, and be- 

 cause of their relatively high commercial value the 

 quantity of fertilizer may be greatly in excess of that 

 for the other groups. While a classification of these 

 crops is possible, a fertilizer of the following com position 

 may be regarded as a basic mixture for the entire 

 group : 



Nitrogen 4$ 



Phosphoric acid 8$ 



Potash 10$ 



The nitrogen should be derived in part from quickly 

 available sources, and the phosphoric acid should be all 

 soluble or available, and the potash from muriate. 

 This should be applied in part broadcast, and in part in 

 the row at time of planting, at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 

 pounds per acre, and upon soils naturally poor, two or 

 three additional annual top-dressings with nitrate of 

 soda, at the rate of from 50 to 100 pounds per acre, will 

 prove very serviceable. EDWARD B. VOORHEES. 



FERULA (possibly the stems were anciently used as 

 ferules). Umbelliferce. GIANT FENNEL. This large 

 genus includes 2 hardy herbs, which are, perhaps, the 

 tallest plants cult, for ornament in this large (but from 

 the garden standpoint unimportant) order. They are 

 valued for the excessive fineness with which their foli- 

 age is cut, and their clusters of perhaps 40-50 umbels 

 of minute yellow fls. borne on stout stems, which rise 

 far above the foliage. F. Tin git ana, Linn., from N. 

 Africa, has Ivs. 4 times ternately pinnatisect, somewhat 

 glaucous. B.M. 7267. The common error that it comes 

 from Spain goes back to Morison, 1680. Lindley origi- 

 nated the false notion that this plant is the source of 

 gum ammoniac. F. communis, Linn., from S. Eu., has 

 deep green Ivs., with more linear segments and more 

 compact habit. w. ]yj 



FESSENDEN, THOMAS GREEN, editor and author, 

 1771-1837, founded "The New England Farmer" at Bos- 

 ton in 1822, and edited it until his death. The present 

 " New England Farmer " is not the lineal successor of Fes- 

 senden's paper. Fessenden is chiefly noted as a satirical 

 poet, and he was more of a literary man than a gardener. 

 He was born at Walpole, N. H., was graduated at Dart- 

 mouth College in 1796, and studied law. He went to 

 England in 1803, and there published his humorous 

 poem, the "Terrible Tractoration." He settled in Boston 

 about 1804. In addition to "The New England Farmer," 

 he edited the short-lived "Horticultural Register," and 

 "The Silk Manual." He wrote "The Complete Farmer 

 and Rural Economist, ""The New American Gardener," 

 and "The American Kitchen Gardener," three books of a 

 cyclopedic nature designed to cover the fields of agri- 

 culture, horticulture and vegetable gardening respec- 

 tively. They adhered very closely to the contempora- 

 neous English type of horticultural writing. These 

 books profess to have passed through many editions, 

 but they were little altered from issue to issue. They 

 often seem to lack the enthusiasm of direct contact 

 with growing plants. Fessenden's time was one of gen- 

 eral farming, and the view-point of gardening was mostly 

 that of the home or amateur. He lived before the days 

 of specialized farming on a large scale, and of commer- 

 cial horticulture and floriculture. During the greater 

 part of his editorship of "The New England Farmer" 

 there was but one other important American agricultural 

 paper, "The American Farmer," which was published at 

 Baltimore, beginning 1819. The most important contem- 

 poraneous American writings on horticulture of a cyclo- 

 pedic nature were "The American Gardener's Calen- 

 dar," by Bernard M'Mahon, Philadelphia, 1806, and 

 " The American Gardener " of John Gardiner and David 

 Hepburn, Georgetown, D. C., 1804. Fer a copy of "The 

 Country Lovers," Fessenden's once famous song to the 

 tune of Yankee Doodle, together with Hawthorne's 

 pen-picture of the man, and an account of his inter- 

 esting life, see Duyckinck, Cyc. Am. Lit. 1:595-599. 



W. M. 



