ARTIFICIAL MANURES AND HORTICULTURAL PRACTICE. 53 



Sulphate of ammonia mixes well with bone meal, wood ashes, 

 and superphosphates. 



Some extensive growers of grapes have reported that they get 

 better coloured and better quality of fruit with sulphate of ammonia 

 than with nitrate of soda, provided there is no lack of potash 

 and phosphoric acid in the soil. It has also been found that the 

 greater the excess of the nitrogenous supply, the greater the 

 luxuriance of the wood and foliage and the less ripe and sugary 

 will be the grapes. We may, therefore, say that sulphate of 

 ammonia by itself tends to produce leaves rather than flowers or 

 fruit, especially when the ground has been partially exhausted 

 of its mineral matter by previous crops. 



Phosphate of Ammonia supplies in each ton weight, 156 lbs. 

 of nitrogen, and 1,120 lbs. of phosphoric acid. It is a very con- 

 centrated and expensive manure, yet adapted for flower raising, 

 and for all valuable and delicate cultures in the open garden and 

 in the conservatory, such as roses, chrysanthemums, fuchsias, 

 camellias, flowering shrubs and foliage plants. 



Nitrate of Soda is an exceedingly active nitrogenous manure 

 supplying plant-food of the most concentrated and direct kind, 

 and its action is both feeding and stimulating. The value of 

 nitrate of soda depends on its amount of nitrogen, and Table V. 

 shows that each ton contains 336 lbs. of that constituent. It 

 supplies no potash, nor phosphoric acid ; consequently for 

 nitrate of soda to produce its proper effects, either the soil must 

 be in good condition maintained by a plentiful use of dung, or a 

 full artificial mineral supply must be supplemented. 



As a rule, it has been found that the horticultural crops 

 which require the most labour per acre, are the crops which 

 yield the highest profits from the use of nitrate of soda, that is to 

 say, the early crops of vegetables, or those produced "out of 

 season." Thus 100 pounds of nitrate of soda will furnish more 

 nitrogen to plants early in the spring than can be got from 8 or 

 10 tons of farmyard manure. 



Farmyard manure will furnish nitric acid for late crops, but 

 for early crops the market gardeners who fail to use nitrate of 

 soda or similar concentrated fertilisers are not alive to their own 

 interests. Nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia should be 

 used in the garden, not as a substitute for farmya rd man ure, but 

 as a highly prized and invaluable addition. 



