12 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Jdlt 18, 1911. 



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FERTILIZERS 



FOR FLORISTS 



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OHElVnSTRY OF rEETIUZERS. 



[A paper by W. S. McGce, of the Pulverized 

 Manure Co., read before the Chicago Florists' 

 Club, July 6, 1911.] 



It seems to me that every florist 

 should have some knowledge of chem- 

 istry. I am convinced, too, that he can 

 easily acquire an amount sufficient to be 

 of practical value. The more he knows 

 of the science of chemistry, the more he 

 will he able to learn from the published 

 reports of investigations carried on at 

 our experiment stations and by other 

 growers. Theoretical knowledge, added 

 to the grower's practical Knowledge, 

 will give him a degree of independence 

 of thought and action impossible to the 

 grower who merely follows custom with- 

 out understanding why. 



Two Brands of Bone Meal. 



Let us take the case of a florist who 

 wishes to buy a ton of bone meal. He 

 has before him catalogues from two 

 equally reputable supply houses. Cata- 

 logue A shows a bone meal containing, 

 let us say, nitrogen 2.50 to 3.30 per cent 

 and phosphoric aciu 23 to 26 per cent, 

 while catalogue B shows a bone meal 

 containing, we will assume, 3 to 3.8 

 per cent nitrogen and 22 to 25 per cent 

 of phosphoric acid. One brand runs 

 higher in nitrogen, while the other runs 

 higher in phosphoric acid, and there 

 would be a natural tendency to choose 

 the one with the higher total content. 



To make a fair comparison, however, 

 we should compute the value of the dif- 

 ferent ingredients of each fertilizer. 

 For this purpose we will use the values 

 assigned by the authorities at the In- 

 diana State Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, These are taken from their bul- 

 letin for 1910 and give the following 

 values: Nitrogen, 17^ cents per 

 pound; total phosphoric acid in bone 

 and tankage, 3% cents per pound; in 

 mixed fertilizers containing nitrogen, in- 

 soluble phosphoric acid, 2 cents per 

 pound; in fertilizers not containing ni- 

 trogen, no value is placed on insoluble 

 phosphoric acid; soluble potash (KjO), 

 6 cents. 



A Chemical Comparison. 



Using the above prices in our com- 

 parison of the two brands of bone meal, 

 we obtain the following results: Brand 

 A, with 2% per cent nitrogen, has 50 . 

 pounds of nitrogen to the ton and this 

 is worth $8.75; the phosphoric acid, 23 

 per cent, runs 460 pounds per ton and 

 this is worth, at 3^4 cents, $16.10, mak- 

 ing a total for this brand of $24.85. 

 For the B brand we find the 3 per cent 

 of nitrogen worth $10.50, and the 22 

 per cent of phosphoric acid worth 

 $15.40, giving a total for brand B of 

 $25.90, a ditference of $1.05 per ton in 

 favor of the brand with the lower total 

 content. 



Other points, however, must be con- 

 sidered before final choice is made. The 

 1 per cent of difference in amount of 

 phosphoric acid seems larger than the 



*4 of 1 per cent of difference in amount 

 of nitrogen, but such is not the case. 

 The one per cent is only 1/22 of the 

 phosphoric acid content, while the i^ 

 of 1 per cent is % of the nitrogen con- 

 tent. A knowledge of what the soil 

 already contains and what the crop nat- 

 urally requires would be of value here 

 and should influence the grower's deci- 

 sion. 



About Published Analyses. 



I find, upon looking over various cat- 

 alogues, that all do not follow the same 

 plan in giving the analysis of fertilizers. 

 Some analyses give the amount of am- 

 monia, but do not mention nitrogen; 

 some give the amount of nitrogen, but 

 do not mention ammonia, and some give 

 the percentage of both of these ingredi- 

 ents. In order to compare any two fer- 

 tilizers of the same general character, 

 we must first reduce the analyses to sim- 

 ilar terms. 



If ammonia is given, we can find the 

 percentage of nitrogen by multiplying 

 by 14/17, or 82.3 per cent. To change 

 from nitrogen to ammonia, multiply by 

 17/14, or 121.4 per cent. Ammonia is 

 a chemical compound containing nitro- 



gen; hence nitrogen is always present in 

 any fertilizer containing ammonia or 

 ammonia compounds. Ammonia is made 

 up, by weight, of fourteen parts of ni- 

 trogen and three parts of hydrogen; 

 hence the above rules for reducing from 

 the one to the other. 



In one catalogue I find four different 

 expressions, all referring to phosphoric 

 acid and all on the same page. In one 

 case a fertilizer seems to contain bone 

 phosphate and phosphate acid; in a sec- 

 ond case phosphate acid alone is named; 

 a third has bone phosphate alone and 

 the fourth phosphoric acid. This lack 

 of uniformity makes some brands of fer- 

 tilizers appear at a disadvantage when 

 nothing of the kind was intended. Phos- 

 phorus, like nitrogen, is a chemical ele- 

 ment incapable of reduction to any sim- 

 pler form. Some authorities insist that 

 in all published analyses the percentage 

 of the element should be given, rather 

 than that of some chemical compound 

 containing the element. 



A Practical Distinction. 



In order to show what might happen 

 to an analysis when we apply to it just 

 a little chemistry and just a little arith- 

 metic, let us take the case of a blood 

 and bone fertilizer advertised by a per- 

 fectly reliable house and with presum- 

 ably honest intentions. The analysis 

 shows this article to contain: Am- 

 monia, 6ii^ to 7 per cent; bone phos- 

 phate, 20 to 30 per cent. The ammonia, 

 6% to 7 per cent, reduces to nitrogen 

 5% to 5% per cent, and the bone phos- 

 phate, 20 to 30 per cent, reduces to 

 phospnoric acid 9 to 13 1/^ per cent, the 

 phosphoric acid constituting usually 

 about 45 per cent of bone phosphate. 

 [Concluded on paffe 68.] 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



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Cold Storage Lilies. 



During July is the time to secure 

 bulbs of cold storage longiflorum lilies 

 where they are wanted in flower from 

 Thanksgiving to Christmas. As soon as 

 the bulbs are received, pot them. If 

 they are left lying around for even two 

 or three days in hot weather, they will 

 lose much of their vitality. Single 

 bulbs can go in 5-inch or 6-inch pots, 

 according to their size. After potting, 

 place in a cellar or pit, where the sun 

 cannot strike and where the tempera- 

 ture is quite a little lower than out- 

 doors, especially during the day. Give 

 a soaking of water. Then cover with 

 moss or some other light mulch. The 

 bulbs should not need much water until 

 they start to grow and even then it 

 should be applied somewhat sparingly 

 until the pots are well tUled with roots. 

 If a cellar is not at disposal, place the 

 pots on a bed of atities in a coldframe 

 and place board shutters, not glass 

 sashes,, over them. 



Speclosum lilies in winter are as yet 

 something of. a nov^elty, except in the 

 largest cities. They make a welcome 

 addition to the cut flowers we have at 



the darkest season of the year. Bulbs 

 of both speciosum album and mbrum 

 are procurable from some specialists 

 during July and August. To have them 

 in bloom for Christmas, start as soon as 

 possible. The crop of speciosum album 

 was last season deficient and they are 

 in short supply this season. Colored 

 varieties are, however, more plentiful. 

 The treatment of these does not differ 

 greatly from that of L. longifiorum, only 

 the speciosums do better grown three 

 to five bulbs in 8-inch pots, rather than 

 singly in smaller pots. They also do 

 better if not subjected to hard forcing 

 like the longiflorums; 55 to 60 degrees 

 at night should not be exceeded in 

 winter. 



Freesias. 



About the middle of July Freesia 

 bulbs are usually procurable from the 

 growers or dealers, and where a good 

 early batch is wanted they should be 

 started at once in pots or pans. Some 

 growers grow along bulblets and raise 

 their own stock. These bulbs will be 

 well ripened and the largest should be 

 selected for the initial batch. Flats are 



[Oonclnded on pafre 30.] 



