Plants Greenhouse Plant Food. 



'58 The use of rotted stable manure as a source of 



greenhouse plant food has been the custom for so many 

 years that more effective forms of plant food make head- 

 way slowly; yet this rotted stable manure has many 

 disadvantages. It always contains more or less weed 

 seed as well as disease germs, and it supplies its plant 

 food in available form very irregularly. Also, by fer- 

 mentation it materially influences the temperature of 

 the seed bed, a temperature we have no means of 

 regulating. The Nitrogen it contains is not Nitrated, 

 hence for forcing it cannot be safely relied upon. For 

 greenhouse work, the fertilizer chemicals should be 

 used, such as Nitrate of Soda, acid phosphate and sul- 

 phate of potash. They should always be used in such 

 proportions that 100 pounds of ammoniate Nitrogen are 

 always accompanied by 30 pounds of phosphoric acid 

 and 70 pounds of actual potash. The quantity to be 

 applied should correspond to about three-fourths of an 

 ounce of Nitrate Nitrogen per square yard of surface; 

 that is, to each square yard of bench, use about 5 ounces 

 of Nitrate of Soda, 3 ounces of acid phosphate and 2 

 ounces of sulphate of potash. A mixture of these pro- 

 portions may be dissolved in water and applied in small 

 portions every few days, taking care, however, to cease 

 applications with those plants it is desired to fully 

 mature, as soon as the desired growth is made. 



Lawns and Golf Links, 



Good lawns are simply a matter of care and rational 

 treatment. If the soil is very light, top-dress liberally 

 with clay and work into the sand. In all cases the soil 

 must be thoroughly fined and made smooth, as the 

 seed, being very small, requires a fine seed bed. In the 

 South, seed to Bermuda grass or Kentucky blue grass; 

 in the North, the latter is also a good lawn grass, but 

 perhaps a little less desirable than Rhode Island bent 

 grass (Agrostis canina). Avoid mixtures, as they give 

 an irregularly colored lawn under stress of drouth, or 

 early frosts, or maturity. For Rhode Island bent grass 



