434 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



can be expected. The recently introduced practice of sup- 

 plying our markets with special fertilizers for particular 

 crops, if carried on beyond a limited generalization, deserves 

 attention on account of the purpose of dealers to meet the 

 desire of the farmers, rather than on account of either good 

 economy or of a superior information in regard to the 

 special wants of the j^ar^/cwZar kind of crop raised under all 

 conditions. This remark applies with particular force to 

 their use in horticulture and fruit culture ; for the composi- 

 tion of most garden crops, as well as of fruits, is far less 

 known than that of the majority of our farm crops. 



A few ash analyses of plants do not suffice to decide what 

 kind and what amount of mineral plant food a crop needs, 

 and still less in what combination ihey produce the best 

 effect. They simply tell what kinds and amount the plants 

 under examination contain. It is a well-established fact 

 that the same variety of plants, when raised upon different 

 kinds of soil, or upon the same soil of a varying degree of 

 richness, may contain a widely differing absolute amount of 

 the same mineral constituents. There is, apparently, in 

 plant life, a possibility of an excessive consumption of food, 

 as we know there is in the case of animal life. Science has 

 not been able, thus far, to ascertain the existence of any 

 definite numerical relation between the exact amount of essen- 

 tial mineral elements of plant food and the amount of organic 

 matter which may be produced by the aid of the former. 

 Whilst we are thus still ignorant in regard to some vital 

 points in plant life, it is quite encouraging to notice the 

 steady progress in studying the more intrinsic relations 

 which evidently exist between the composition of the 

 organic and inorganic portion of the plant. The very cir- 

 cumstance that the various mineral elements cannot substi- 

 tute each other to any extent, if at all, without altering the 

 relative proportion of the proximate organic constituents of 

 the plant, or even endangering its very existence, suggests 

 that dependency. The question. Can we alter the composi- 

 tion of plants, and if so, in what direction, and by what 

 means? has become of late one of the most prominent 

 subjects of agricultural investigation. The best scientific 

 resources of our time are called on to ascertain the prin- 



