Manures and Fertilizers 



the plant removes when the maximum crops are grown, as the removal of the 

 crops exhausts the particular elements required by the plant, and eventually 

 reduces the soil fertility to a point so low that profitable crops cannot be 

 grown. 



The productiveness of soils is also largely influenced by their physical 

 character. Soils which resist the penetration of air and water are less 

 fertile than those that are soft and friable and freely permit the absorption of 

 water and atmospheric action ; also, soils that are so fine and free from 

 vegetable matter as to become compacted, hardened and impervious to heat, 

 water and air, are less desirable than those of a coarser texture, as the latter 

 will form an open, mellow soil in which the active resolvent agencies will 

 freely work. 



The practical fertility of soil is measured by the amount of available 

 or soluble plant food elements which it contains. In America most of 

 our agricultural soils contain essential plant elements in large amounts, and 

 this natural richness is supplemented by climatic conditions that tend to the 

 rapid conversion of these elements into crops ; nevertheless, it is true that 

 continuous profitable crops of any nature cannot be grown without the use of 

 manures, or of commercial fertilizers, as under such continuous cropping, if 

 the plant elements removed are not replaced, the soils eventually become 

 exhausted of their available plant constituents. Therefore, the future success 

 of the florist will largely depend upon how well he understands the application 

 of the principles involved in the preservation and use of the fertile constituents 

 contained in his soils, as well as the practical use of the elements of fertility 

 which he is able to purchase. 



As a guide to progressive florists, I would recommend the work, en- 

 titled "Fertilizers," by Edward B. Voorhees, which may be obtained from The 

 Macmillan Company of New York. The book named covers the subject of 

 artificial fertilizers completely, and it can be studied by every commercial 

 florist to his great profit. The following quotation from this work may be of 

 interest to the observant florist as pointing out a possible cause of the crop 

 failures of which we often hear : 



"What Becomes of Our Fertility? 



"Since fertility is dependent upon so many conditions, or, in other words, since the 

 essential elements of fertility are dependent upon their utility, and since, in this sense, 

 fertility is largely determined by natural conditions, it is pertinent to inquire, first, 

 whether under our present systems of management, or mismanagement, of the land, it 

 is suffering any natural loss of fertility. As already pointed out, the most important 

 function of fertility is to furnish nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, and since the 



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