SOIL AND FERTILIZERS 307 



Hard-wood ashes, kept dry, are also valuable, 

 not only as a fertilizer but as a preventive of in- 

 sects. They should not be mixed with manure 

 but should be strewn over the surfaces of beds 

 or borders after the other manures have be- 

 come incorporated with the soil. 



Flowers and shrubs require a considerable 

 quantity of phosphoric acid. Ground bone 

 may be used to supply the demand and, besides 

 containing this element, it also supplies nitro- 

 gen. A good dressing, to be mixed with the 

 soil or applied to the surface in the autumn, is 

 made of four parts of ground bone and one of 

 muriate of potash. The mixture should be ap- 

 plied at the rate of one pound to fifty or sixty 

 square feet of surface. 



Nitrate of soda encourages luxuriant growth 

 of stalk and foliage rather than of flowers. It 

 should be applied at the rate of one ounce to 

 the square yard. 



A convenient and satisfactory liquid fertilizer 

 can be made of the commercial fertilizers as 

 follows : 



5 oz. sulphate of potash 



1 lb. nitrate of soda 



1 lb. monobasic calcium phosphate 



These are added to one gallon of water and 

 this solution, in turn, is diluted from fifteen to 



