1288 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Mabcu 29, 1906. 



phosphate of potash, has fifty per cent 

 phosphoric acid and thirty-three per cent 

 of potash, and dissolves in water. Such 

 feeding should give the needed incen- 

 tive for blooming, and support well the 

 blooms. 



For potash we have the animal man- 

 ures from which it can be obtained quite 

 easily, and wood ashes. As chemicals 

 there are the sulphate, muriate and car- 

 bonate. These chemicals are used out- 

 of-doors mostly but indoors there are 

 often serious objections to their use. 



First Commercial Fertilizers. 



About a generation ago commercial 

 fertilizers came into use. They were 

 more portable and durable than animal 

 manures, and answer for farming, being 

 composed of insoluble materials, as 

 blood, gro'und or dissolved bone, tankage, 

 and usually with some cheap soluble 

 chemical of the list already mentioned. 

 They are not satisfactory for rose cul- 

 ture even outside. Their variable com- 

 position, insolubility for tank use, often 

 harmful ingredients, and low food value 

 render them undesirable for bench work. 

 Averaging perhaps fifteen per cent total 

 plant foods, with three-quarters useless 

 filler, they yet mark a distinct step 



For this purpose manure tanks of wood 

 or concrete are much used and the ma- 

 nure is dumped into the water, and gen- 

 erally strained before going into the wa- 

 tering system. This simple method gets 

 much of the potash out, but a great deal 

 of the valuable nitrogen and the phos- 

 phates must stay behind, not being dis- 

 solved in water. 



An important question to every grow- 

 er using such tanks is, * * How much plant 

 food is there in my tank water?" A 

 chemical analysis will be of some use, 

 but such an analysis must be made often. 

 As ordinary stable manure may be con- 

 sidered to have ten pounds of nitrogen 

 and potash each, and less than seven 

 pounds of phosphates per ton, and so 

 much labor is involved, the actual cost 

 of this plant food is much greater than 

 is expected by the grower. While these 

 figures are general they give an idea of 

 some value as to what may be expected. 

 By poor treatment one-half the nitrogen 

 may be lost, thus losing one-third of 

 the value of the whole. If no urine is 

 present it has only half the value of 

 one composed of both solid and liquid 

 ingredients. Exposure may have leached 

 much of the value of the manure away 

 without the knowledge of the grower. 



J. F. Huss. 



(President of Die Florists' Club at Hartford and a Judge at Boston.) 



towards an ideal soluble fertilizer, and 

 away from the old disagreeable manures. 

 Eose soil under glass is often mixed 

 with bone and dung (with the latter 's 

 numerous living retinue) and sometimes 

 with lime. But to grow large, fine roses 

 and many of them resort must be had 

 to feeding, especially in the height of the 

 season. While top dressing can be done 

 by hand, the use of the watering equip- 

 ment to apply soluble food is of great 

 advantage and is fast coming into use. 



To get one pound of plant food for 100 

 pounds of manure put into the tank is 

 almost beyond hope. 



Value of Soluble Fertilizers, 



We wish to point out the great value 

 of soluble fertilizers in tank water. 

 Without repeated chemical analysis next 

 to nothing is known of the water except 

 by the appearance of plants days after- 

 wards, and even if everything goes swim- 

 mingly it is doubtful if the same treat- 



ment could be duplicated. Even with 

 chemical analysis the situation is only a 

 little clearer, for liquid manure water 

 is not available at once, and much de- 

 pends upon the soil, the condition of 

 which we are not always certain. By the 

 use of soluble fertilizers the amount of 

 food applied to any one bench can be 

 known to a dot. For example, we wish 

 to water benches with 100 gallons of 

 water, and two pounds of food. We put 

 the food in a bucket, see that it is com- 

 pletely dissolved, then throw it into the 

 tank. To save time and bother we have 

 made out a little card board schedule 

 with parallel columns showing respect- 

 tively depths in inches in the tank, gal- 

 ons of water, and finally figures show- 

 ing in pounds and ounces the proper 

 amounts of plant foods to use for va- 

 rious purposes. Or soluble fertilizers 

 may be used in conjunction with the 

 usual manure water. 



A measuring stick vrith light scores 

 made at convenient distances is useful 

 in ascertaining the exact amount of 

 liquid in the tank. If the tank has a 

 dead space so that liquid always remains 

 here a blank space should be on this 

 measuring stick, and in this way too 

 much fertilizer for the amount of water 

 will not be added. The grower knows 

 exactly what he is doing, which is rather 

 a new thing. We think that while many 

 growers would like to use soluble fer- 

 tilizers more or less they do not know 

 just how to begin with absolute safety. 

 They must first have some clear idea 

 of what they are now doing before they 

 •can expect to duplicate plant foods with 

 an immediately available fertilizer. They 

 should consult with chemists interested 

 in soluble fertilizers who could mate- 

 rially assist them. In this connection 

 we think the government and various ex- 

 periment stations have done much, and 

 their publications are of value to the rose 

 grower. 



A word about nitrate of soda. We 

 often hear of too much being used and 

 consider that one pound in 100 gallons 

 is a very strong feed. We think that 

 one pound in 250 gallons, which is about 

 one part in 2,000, will do for a starter. 



Sweetening With Lime. 



In the use of lime in tanks -for sweet- 

 ening it is well to bear in mind that 

 never more than two pounds per 100 gal- 

 lons will dissolve. If a creamy mixture 

 of lime and water is desired that is a 

 different thing, and its composition de- 

 pends largely on the character of the 

 lime. , 



We have said that the ordinary com- 

 mercial fertilizer is a step toward the 

 ideal one, but it lacks soluble ingredients, 

 and often has harmful ones, and has but 

 small amounts of plant food. An ideal 

 "soluble fertilizer" should be entirely 

 soluble, entirely available, non-acid, 

 pleasant to use, of proper balance, not 

 expensive, and as concentrated with as 

 little bulk as possible. Such are manu- 

 factured today, having sixty per cent 

 plant foods (the highest possible 

 amount) with no injurious igredients nor 

 any useless ones. In short, we may con- 

 sider these pretty nearly a perfect solu- 

 ble fertilizer. 



As time goes on and we have more 

 definite information concerning the im- 

 mediate needs of plant life, we have no 

 doubt that the soluble fertilizer will be 

 up-to-date. Owing to the lack of ap- 

 preciation of their very high percentages 

 of plant fo"bds and their purity from 



