The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXVIII 



JANUARY, 1915 



No. 



Natural and Artificial Fertilizers— Their Characteristics 



H. J, 



ACCORDING to their nature fertili- 

 zers may be divided into two 

 groups, namely organic and inor- 

 ganic, the former being those of vege- 

 table and animal origin, and the latter 

 those of mineral origin. Fertilizers are 

 known as natural or general, or artificial 

 or special. General fertilizers contain 

 all the essential constituents of plant 

 food. Artificials with the exception of 

 specials contain all or many, but specials 

 while they may contain other constitu- 

 ents are valued chiefly or solely for one. 

 The foregoing groups will for the pur- 

 poses of this article be better understood 

 if sub-divided into classes. In the gen- 

 eral group we have (i) stable manure in- 

 cluding straw and waste food, litter of 

 various kinds, (2) the solid and liquid ex- 

 creta of animals, (3) decomposing por- 

 tions or whole bodies of animals, (4) 

 green crops such as buckwheat and clov- 

 er, (5) leaves, and seaweed. The arti- 

 ficial group gives us two distinct classes : 

 class (1) artificial in the sense that the 

 fertilizers which compose it are prepared, 

 although of organic origin. To this class 

 belong dried blood, guano, bones of var- 

 ious sizes, hair and wool, soot and char- 

 coal ; (2) nitrates, sulphates, phosphates, 

 and other fertilizers of inorganic or min- 

 eral origin. 



Moore, Queen Victoria Park, Niagara Falls, 



All fertilizers have characteristics 

 which determine their usefulness for gen- 

 eral or for special purposes. Natural 

 manures are bulky, they open and light- 

 en the soil, they add to its moisture (a) 

 by the addition of urine, (b) by their con- 

 version into water. They also add to the 

 soil's fertility, for as plants, or as ani- 

 mals which feed upon plants they have 

 obtained their food from the soluble con- 

 stituents of the soil, once soluble, always 

 so, thus when natural manures decom- 

 pose extra soluble substances are re- 

 turned to the soil. Natural manures are 

 absolutely of no use as plant foods until 

 they decompose. Upon decomposition 

 the acids which are formed as a result of 

 bacterial and chemical action in conjunc- 

 tion with mineral bases form inorganic 

 solutions ; in this form they are plant 

 foods. Natural manures are generally 

 characterized by slow decomposition ; 

 some portions of them may be visible in 

 the soil for years. While they last, how- 

 ever, food solutions will be continually 

 formed, a fact uf)on which much of their 

 value is based. 



We are told that in a ton of ordinary 

 manure from horse and cow stables, we 

 will find 1,275 pounds of organic matter, 

 225 pounds of mineral matter (ash), and 

 10 pounds of nitrogen. The ash will give 



Ont. 



12 pounds of potash, 39 pounds of lime, 

 and six pounds of phosphoric acid. It 

 will thus be obvious when we understand 

 that it is only necessary at any time to 

 apply the four last mentioned elements to 

 the soil that stable manure is a complete 

 fertilizer. Urine as usually associated 

 with stable manure is an exception to the 

 slow decomf)osing natural manures ; it 

 provides 30 to 40 pounds of potash, and 

 about an equal quantity of nitrogen per 

 ton, both of these being in an immedi- 

 ately available form. Urine must be 

 diluted with four or five times its volume 

 of water before being applied. One ton 

 of leaves from hardwood trees will fur- 

 nish six pounds of potash, three pounds 

 of phosphoric acid, and from 10 to 15 

 pounds of nitrogen. Leaves are, how- 

 ever, usually burned and the ash scat- 

 tered to the winds, and the urine from 

 the stable is allowed to drain a-vay and 

 be lost, thus two of nature's most valu- 

 able fertilizers are wasted. Nitrogen is 

 the most costly fertilizer, yet thousands 

 of tons are annually in the above manner 

 sacrificed through carelessness. 



The characteristics of the artificial 

 group differ from those of the natural. It 

 contains slow decomposing, and also sol- 

 uble kinds. The slowly decomposing 



Loading Nova Scotia Applet at Halifax for the British Markets. Nova Scotia Grower* now Charter their Own Vettelt. 



Chief Fruit Inspector Vroom Stands to the Left of the Gangway. 



