FERTILIZERS FOR THE GARDEN— IV. 



FORTY years' experience ACTION OF NITRATES. 



1 O R M E R L Y it was 

 thought that plants 

 took up their nitrogen in 

 the form of ammonia. 

 Now it is known that 

 they take it up in the 

 form of nitric acid, the 

 acid being combined 

 with some base, such as 

 lime, soda, potash, etc. 

 Ammonia applied as manure will do as much 

 good as it did before the above fact was discovered. 

 The only difference is, that we know that the am- 

 monia is converted into nitric acid in the soil before 

 it can be taken up by plants. Experiments are 

 sometimes quoted to show that some plants can 

 take up nitrogen in the form of ammonia, but the 

 rule, at any rate, is as above stated. 



Prof. Goodale, in Garden ami Forest, says : ' ' The beet 

 and tobacco thrive best when combined nitrogen is 

 afforded them in the form of ammoniacal salts." 



So far as the beet is concerned the fact that such large 

 quantities of nitrate of soda are used as a manure for 

 beets grown for sugar in Germany and France, even in 

 the absence of actual experiments, would seem to indi- 

 cate that nitrates were better than ammonia. 



Lawes & Gilbert's experiments on sugar beets were 

 commenced in 1871. The same amount of nitrogen was 

 used in the form of nitrate of soda as in ammoniacal 

 salts. The following are the results : 



NO MANURIi. NITRATE SODA. AMMON. SALTS. 



Bus. per acre. Bus. per acre. Bus. per acre. 



1871 302 S86 612 



187^ jH 854 606 



1873 202 570 366 



1876 260 -826 566 



1877 218 674 352 



1878 140 404 174 



1879 64 194 144 



1880 I So 560 394 



176 452 150 



1882 1S4 65o 246 



'883 196 748 332 



It is not necessary to give the results of later years. 

 It should be understood that the unmanured plot has re- 

 ceived no manure of any kind since 1846, and the plots, 

 one of which had nitrate of soda and the other the same 

 quantity of nitrogen in the form of ammonia, had no 

 other manure. When this is understood, we think the 

 above table will interest some of your readers. It should 

 also be remarked that Vilmorin's White Silesian sugar 



beets were grown in the years 1S71, '72 and '73. The ma- 

 nures were omitted in 1874 and '75. In 1876, and since, 

 Yellow Globe mangel wurzel has been grown. 



The year 1879 was the wettest season of the century, 

 and this will account for the small yield. It is a sur- 

 prising fact that with nitrates alone, with no potash or 

 phosphates or ash constituents of any kind, 748 bushels 

 per acre should be grown in 1883, after the removal of 

 so many crops. 



The experiment is still continued, the same manures 

 being used year after year on the same land. The crop 

 for 1888, the last yet reported, was as follows : 



NO MANURE. NITRATE SODA. .\MMON. SALTS. 



Bus. per acre. Bits, per acre. Bus. per acre. 

 1SS8 54 S14 266 



There are cases where a given amount of nitrogen in 

 the form of ammonia produces as large a crop as when 

 nitrate is used. The ammonia is converted into nitrate 

 by the growth of bacteria or a minute live plant in the 

 soil. If this growth takes place early enough to convert 

 the ammonia into nitrate as soon as the plants need it, 

 an application of ammonia is just as good as an ap- 

 plication of nitrate. But for many early crops, or 

 for crops like beets, which seem to especially need a 

 little ready formed nitrate to give the young plants a 

 good start, the bacteria will not grow early enough in 

 the cold soil in spring to furnish the nitrate. 



This fact is one of the most important agricultural and 

 horticultural discoveries of the age. It explains many 

 of the old practices of experienced farmers and gar- 

 deners. 



Many modern writers advocate applying manure to 

 the soil in the fresh state. And sometimes this is the 

 quickest and cheapest and best way to get rid of it. 

 But experienced gardeners, to my own knowledge for 

 50 years, and probably for 500 years or 5,000, have 

 found well rotted manure particularly valuable for cer- 

 tain crops. And he is an unwise man who ignores the 

 well established facts of experience. 



Forty years ago, Mr. P. Barry in his then just pub- 

 lished book, "The Fruit Garden," speaking of the 

 pear-leaf blight, said : " To avoid its evil effects as far 

 as possible, the great point is to get a rapid, vigorous 

 growth before midsummer, when it usually appears." 

 In reviewing the book in the Horticiiltiirisl for July 

 1851, the lamented A. J. Downing singled out the above 

 few lines for criticism. He admitted that it was im- 

 portant to get the growth before midsummer, but 

 claimed that ' ' It was a pretty well settled point among 

 American fruit growers who have studied this subject 

 that the great desideratum to pi-eveiit blight is to place 



