464 JOUKNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



forcing Cucumbers and the like, when the border has been well made up 

 with good soil in which has been incorporated such material as basic 

 slag. Similarly, when potting-earth has been well compounded, tliis 

 fertiliser will be found the most concentrated substance available. 

 Nitrogen in an available form forces vegetative growth, an abundance of 

 stem and leaf being quickly produced. An excess may do serious harm by 

 weakening the constitution of the plant, or crowding out others growing 

 close by. Phosphates are particularly necessary to strengthen growth 

 and to form fruit and seed. The phosphates contained in seed the 

 chemist finds to be the constituent which varies least in amount ; the 

 seed must have its quota of phosphate. While dealing with the functions 

 of nitrogen and phosphate, we may suggest an important application. 

 Grass lands, such as lawns, are often sorely robbed ; continually mown 

 and seldom manured. These may be most economically maintained in 

 good condition by chemical fertilisers, reserving the organic manures for 

 tilled lands. The fertilisers should be judiciously mixed, remembering 

 that the ingredients used will quickly influence the botanical nature of 

 the herbage. Thus, wherever much nitrate or ammonia be applied, relative 

 to the phosphates and potassic compounds, the clovers will quickly die 

 out, but will luxuriate where the opposite condition holds. On tennis and 

 golf grounds and spots upon which there is considerable running, the 

 presence of clovers is undesirable because they make the sward slippery, 

 but on the other parts of the grassplot a fair percentage of leguminous 

 plants is desirable. The required condition may be obtained almost, if 

 not entirely, by carefully compounding mixtures of fertilisers. Every 

 practical cultivator should endeavour to learn how to compound his own 

 mixtures, but admittedly there are many difficulties. There is a decided 

 advantage in purchasing manures in the unmixed condition, say nitrate 

 of soda, nitrate of potash, sulphate of potash, kainit, superphosphate, 

 bone meal, and some one or more of the organic compounds when the 

 markets are favourable. These may then be used separately or mixed as 

 desired. It will be found that no one mixture can possibly be the best 

 for all plants, all soils, and all seasons. 



Experiment alone can inform the gardener what he should use. The 

 great importance of experimenting cannot be overrated, but it must he 

 clone cautiously. If only three or four fruit-trees. Strawberry plants, 

 Cabbages, or plants in pots, placed in a fair position in relation to the 

 bulk, be experimented with — say one in every six or ten plants — they will, 

 if the application be suitable, give results which can be detected without 

 weights and scales, and the lessons learned will be of immense value for 

 future use. 



Experiments of this kind cost very little, and take very few minutes, 

 and should always be in progress, remembering that soil and aspect differ 

 • everywhere. Some experiments now proceeding will illustrate method. 

 A crop of Potatos was being planted in ordinary course. Flower-pots 

 full of different chemical fertilisers were taken out, and when the furrows 

 were open the third from one end had sprinkled up it a mixture of basic 

 slag and kainit. The next row was missed, then a mixture of basic 

 slag and sulphate of potash was applied, again no manure, and then 

 another row had a mixture of steamed bone flour and sulphate of potash 



