Chapter on 

 Market Gardening with Ni 



FOOD FOR PLANTS. 



From the writings of Joseph Harris, M. Sc. Revised 

 by S. M. Harris. 



It is well known that animals, and r- . ^T 

 • ,, • , , ',, , Food Necessary 



especially young animals, must have all the n p. 



food they can eat in order to properly 



develop and grow fat. This is equally true of plants. 



Plants will manage to live on verv little food, but to grow, 



thrive and bear fruit they require an abundance of food in 



the soil. 



The food of plants consists of a number of elements, 

 including Nitrogen, phosphoric acid, lime, magnesia, iron, 

 silica, potash, etc. A sufficient quantity of all these neces- 

 sary elements, except Nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, 

 exists in nearly all agricultural soils. Nitrogen is nearly 

 always deficient, phosphoric acid usually, and potash often. 

 In some soils there may be enough of all the elements of 

 plant food except one. Let us assume that this one is 

 Nitrogen. In this case the growth and yield of the crop 

 will be limited by the quantity of Nitrogen it can contain. 

 There might be an abundant supply of all the other 

 elements, but the plants could not use them without Nitro- 

 gen. This would be true of any one of the other elements 

 that might be deficient. The plants must have them all 

 at the same time to develop in perfection. 



What the farmer and gardener must do therefore is to 



furnish the plants with the elements of plant food that are 



lacking in the soil. 



Nitrogen is one that is nearly always ^y. 



, r • ° -TL- -J \ c 1 Nitrogen 



dencient. 1 his is due to the fact that «,, i m 



XTV • 1 ki r • -1 u J Nearly Always 



JNitrogen in a soluble form is easily washed r\ p. . 



. c .u -1 ki L k ■• -J Deficient, 



out of the soil, while phosphoric acid, 



potash and the other mineral elements will not wash out. 



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