THE GROWTH AND NUTRITION OF PLANTS. 



119 



freight included, to points say, a hundred miles distant from such 

 centres as Boston, New York City, Baltimore, etc., and in the 

 last column is given the weight per measured half-bushel. This 

 last is given to enable any who may wish to mix these materials 

 themselves, but who do not have facilities for weighing. 



Kind of plant food 

 furnished. 



:H ^ f Raw bone, 



^ 3 j Bone black, 



_o /p I 1 South Carolina Rock, 



o p 5 [ Bone ash, 



■^^ s r Dissolved S. C. Rock, 



§ """ 3 J " bone black, 



M [ " bone, 



Part reverted. 



(15 per ct.) 



Thomas-Gilchrist slag, 



21 



1.25 



Oh CI 



°^ 



* And two and one-half per cent of nitrogen. 



Wood ashes, 6 0.50 



Muriate of potash, 50 2.40 



Sulphate of potash, 22 



Sulph. potash (high grade), 50 3.50 



Kainit, 12 .75 



Krugit, 8 .75 



Dried blood, 12 2.00 

 Fish waste, 7 



Bone, 2.5* 1.75 



Nitrate of soda, 15 3.00 



Nitrate of potash, 13 5.00 



Sulphate of ammonia, 20 4.00 



* And twenty-four per cent phosphoric acid. 



23 

 34 



40 

 39 

 39 

 19 



44 

 31 



(6.) To decide upon the right fertilizer under any given con- 

 ditions is a matter of some difficulty, but not one beyond solution. 

 A glance at the table, showing what constituents various crops 

 removed from the soil, will give us some information. For 

 example, we see that the average amount of deficient plant food 

 removed per acre, by eight of our most common crops is : 



Nitrogen, 62 lbs.. Phosphoric acid, 23.4 lbs.. Potash, 67.97 lbs. 

 or 2.9 times as much potash as phosphoric acid. "We also see 

 that various crops use these materials in different proportions ; 

 thus wheat uses phosphoric acid and potash in almost equal 

 quantities, 1 : 1.2, while hay uses 4.5 times as much of the latter 

 as of the former. 



But in spite of these figures it might be and is doubtless true, 

 that man}' soils by the application of a single constituent, — say 



