58 



JVHAT THE AUTHORITIES SAY ABOUT COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 



applying it a new and vigorous growth resulted. It seems 

 to be prepared on a scientific plan, and to contain the 

 elements necessary to a healthy plant-growth. 



I have advised a great many persons to use it on house 

 and greenhouse plants, and I have yet to hear a com- 

 plaint against it. For those living in towns and cities it 

 ' ' supplies a long-felt want " — to use a handy old phrase, 

 because such persons find it difficult to obtain natural 

 fertilizers. There is another reason why I not only use 

 this "food" extensively in my own greenhouse, bu' 

 advise its use to others. Everyone who makes use of 

 barn-yard manure knows that after a little the soil in the 

 pot becomes infested with little white worms. They 

 breed in the manure. Not a day goes by that does not 

 bring to me letters from parties who say that their plants 

 are being injured by these worms, and asking how to get 

 rid of them. Of course they do not ahuays come from 

 manure, but in a majority of cases they do, and I have 

 of late advised complaining amateurs to use the "Flower 

 Food" instead, as it never breeds worms, and is, so faf 

 as I can see, quite as effective and satisfactory in its 

 results on most plants as barn-yard manure. — Eben E. 

 Rexford, Jl'iscoiisin. 



DR. HOSKINS A FREE AND JUDICIOUS USER OF 

 FERTILIZERS. 



I have been using fertilizers on my fruit farm and 

 market-garden very freely for 25 years, often buying a 

 car-load at a time, and have found the standard brands to 

 be as reliable, and on the whole, quite as cheap as the 

 stable manure from neighboring villages. Yet I buy a 

 good deal of the latter, partly in the way of trade. I 

 should not consider that I was risking anything by using 

 a first-class fertilizer exclusively on any crop, unless, 

 perhaps, on celery. 



An advantage not sufficiently considered is the freedom 

 from weed-seeds. To be sure, the rule is to hoe before we 

 are weedy ; but under currant and other fruit-bushes, 

 which I grow between trees in my young orchards, I had 

 just as lief not sow any weed or grass-seeds. As to last- 

 ing effect, I consider the fertilizer that yields up all its 

 value the first season to be the best, or should do so if I 

 knew of any besides the nitrous salts. But on my dairy 

 farm I have ample proofs that it takes at least three 

 years to get back all there is in our commercial fertil- 

 izers. It is only when an unprofitably small quantity 

 is applied, that the proof of this statement fails to make 

 itself known. As to quantities applied per acre, a ton 

 annually is none too much for the market-garden. On 

 the farm I would not hesitate to apply the same quantity, 

 when made without the nitrogenous element ; but with 

 it there would be a loss. So after considerable experi- 

 menting, I prefer for an ordinary rotation of potatoes, 

 grain and grass to give only the phosphoric acid and 

 potash for the whole three years at once, and add the 

 nitrogen salts each year, according to the supposed need. 

 That word "supposed" indicates our most injurious 

 lack, an absolutely correct knowledge of the needs of 

 the land. Only by degrees, as we get to know our 

 friends, can we attain to knowledge of what the different 



lots do really need, and it is a life-long and very interest- 

 ing as well as profitable study. It is just like studying 

 human character, except that the will element is excluded 

 in the case of the land. — Dr. T. H. Hoskins, Vermont. 



ROBERT NIVEN USES FERTILIZERS FOR CELERY. 



I have raised over $2,000 worth of celery to the acre 

 by manuring at the rate of about 15 cords of manure 

 and two tons of fertilizers. The plants are set seven 

 inches apart each way, growing over 100,000 plants to 

 the acre. I find fertilizer and water in abundance indis- 

 pensable factors in growing large crops. The results 

 are very satisfactory, and I find the ground growing 

 better crops every year. — Robert Niven, Providence, 

 R. I. 



S. D. WILLARD THINKS HIGHLY OF WOOD-ASHES. 



We have made no tests in our orchards for the purpose 

 of deciding u pon the relative merits and economy in use 

 of thedifferent manures referred to. Barn-yard manure 

 composted with dry swamp-muck, and Canada wood- 

 ashes, I have used for some years with satisfactory 

 results. — S. D. Willard, Ontario county, N. Y. 



D. W. BEADLE ALSO IN FAVOR OF WOOD-ASHES. 



My business has been that of a nurseryman growing 

 fruit-trees, not fruit for market. My soil was deficient 

 in lime, therefore about once in five years I applied 

 slaked lime at the rate of 50 bushels to the acre. I also 

 applied ashes, unleached — ashes of beech, maple and 

 elm — at the rate of 50 bushels to the acre once in three 

 years. I did not use any commercial nitrogenous or 

 phosphatic manures. The results of these applications 

 were highly satisfactory, but as I also used barn-yard 

 manure freely, and put on ashes and lime to supplement 

 the other, I cannot make any comparison as to benefit 

 or cost. — D. W. Beadle, Ontario, Canada. 



JOHN CRAIG USES VARIOUS FERTILIZERS. 



An abundant and cheap supply of barn-yard manure 

 and unleached wood-ashes precludes the necessity of 

 purchasing chemical fertilizers in this vicinity. In 

 orchard work my practice is to use barn-yard manure 

 and wood-ashes in alternate years, using 12 to 18 tons of 

 the former and 50 to 75 bushels of the latter each appli- 

 cation. I have found nitrate of soda and muriate of 

 potash of great service in hastening the growth of vege- 

 tables, and strengthing and improving the foliage of 

 strawberries. — John Craig, Central Experiment Farm, 

 Ottawa, Canada. 



W. E. WELD grows POTATOES WITH FERTILIZERS. 



I find chemical fertilizers a perfect substitute for barn- 

 yard manure, but more especially so when the soil is in a 

 suitable mechanical condition. And to secure this condi- 

 tion, I used both according to the needs of soil. 1 find 

 chemical fertilizers cheaper than farm-yard manures, 

 cost and lasting effect considered, provided always that 

 the mechanical conditions of the soil are right. I have 

 used nearly a'l brands of phosphate in varying quantities, 

 from 200 pounds to one ton per acre. I once applied 



