Ocr.  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST, 
FERTILIZER  INGREDIENTS  BY  WEIGHT. 
Fla. 
Cal. 
Phosphoric  acid,  parts  by  weight, 
1.0 
1.0 
Nitrogen 
1.6 
3.4 
Potash ,, 
6.0 
4.0 
Lime ,.  ,, 
2.7 
Magnesia „ ,, 
0.6 
Sulphuric  acid...  ,, 
0.5 
Soda „ ,, 
0.5 
Chlorine ,,  ,, 
0.14 
Silica ,,  ,, 
0.10 
Ferric  oxide ,,  ,, 
.08 
It  is  commonly  accepted  as  true  that  the  planter 
need  concern  himself  only  about  the  first  four,  all 
the  others  being,  with  rare  exceptions,  abundantly 
present  in  all  soils.  The  rare  exceptions  are,  per- 
haps, sulphuric  acid  and  magnesia.  The  latter  (as 
also  lime)  is  always  abundantly  present  in  acid  phos- 
phate, or  can  be  supplied  in  the  form  of  gypsum  or 
land  plaster.  Magnesia  is  rarely  absent  from  any 
fertilizer,  amounting  sometimes  to  10  per  cent,  or 
more.  Silica  never  needs  to  be  supplied;  nor  do 
ferric  oxide,  soda  or  chlorine  ; or,  if  they  do,  they  are 
always  present  as  incidental  parts  of  all  fertilizers, 
often  to  so  great  an  extent  as  to  be  a nuisance.  The 
orange  draws  potash  from  the  soil  in  far  larger  quan- 
tity than  any  other  constituent.  This  is,  however, 
precisely  that  constituent  which  is  relatively  deficient 
in  popular  orange  fertilizers  now  on  sale  in  Florida. 
These  fertilizers  contain  from  1 to  2.5  times  as  much 
phospharic  acid  as  potash,  and  2 to  5 times  as  much 
phosphoric  acid  as  nitrogen.  Whereas  according  to 
our  analyses,  the  orange  takes  from  the  soil  6 times 
as  much  potash  and  1.6  times  as  much  nitrogen  as 
phosphoric  acid  (in  case  of  the  California  orange,  4 
times  as  much  potash  and  3 times  as  much  nitrogen) 
That  one  of  these  three  most  important  constituents 
of  which  the  orange  removes  the  least,  the  one, 
moreover,  which  is  most  likely  to  be  present,  and 
often  actually  is  present  in  Florida  soil  in  excessive 
abundance,  namely,  phosphate,  is  the  one  which  these 
fertilizers  supply  in  excess. 
FERTITIZEK  INGEEDIENTS  BY  PERCENTAGE. 
A fertilizer  who  would  return  to  the  soil  the  con- 
stituents extracted  by  the  orange,  should  contain 
about  2'7  per  cent  phosphoric  acid,  4 per  cent  nitro- 
gen, and  16  per  cent  of  potash.  These  remarks  have 
reference  to  old  bearing  trees.  Our  analyses  are  of 
the  orange  merely,  not  of  the  leaves,  trunk  root  or 
twigs.  The  leaves  and  new  growth  extract  food  from 
the  soil,  but  this  should,  by  decay  of  leaves  and 
burning  of  prunings,  be  returned.  (In  case  of  burning 
the  nitrogen  would  be  lost.) 
A FERTILIZER  AS  IT  IS. 
The  quantity  of  an  excellent  and  popular  fertilizer 
recommended  to  be  applied  on  old  bearing  trees  on 
pine  land  is  such  as  would  furnish  yearly  to  each 
tree  twenty-two  to  thirty-nine  ounces  of  available,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  insoluble,  phosphoric  acid ; twenty- 
three  to  thirty-nine  ounces  of  potash,  and  10\5  to 
eighteen  ounces  of  nitrogen.  The  poosphoric  acid 
is  greatly  in  excess  of  what  would  seem  to  be  needed, 
and  the  nitrogen  somewhat  so. 
The  fertilization  of  fruit  trees  is  a subject  about 
which  there  is  little  accurate  knowledge,  and  greatly 
needs  to  be  studied.  The  formulas  for  orange  fer- 
tilizers undoubtedly  need  te  be  revised;  the  quantity 
of  ."potash  relatively  to  the  other  constituents  ne^ds 
to  be  increased. 
A FERTILIZER  AS  IT  SHOULD  BE. 
A fertilizer  containing  something  like  2.7 percent, 
of  phosphoric  acid,  4 per  cent,  of  nitrogen  and  16 
per  cent,  of  potash  would  restore  these  elements  to 
the  soil  in  something  like  the  relative  proportions 
in  which  the  orange  takes  them.  About  12.5  pounds 
of  this  fertilizer  would  be  enough  for  the  production 
of  1,000  oranges.  The  orange  is  a large  consumer 
of  lime,  and  makes  no  inconsiderable  drafts  upon 
sulphuric  acid.  Those  constituents  should  be  looked 
after.  And  there  doubtless  are  soils  which  would 
respond  gratefully  to  an  occasional  application  of 
magnesia. 
lu  the  following  table  is  a record  of  the 
263 
WEIGHT  AND  SPECIFIC  GRAVITY 
of  ten  oranges  from  week  to  week.  It  shows  the 
intresting  fact  that,  whereas  the  weight  of  an  orange 
constantly  decreases,  the  specific  gravity  increases  for 
a while,  then  afterwards  falls  off-  This  means  that 
for  a period  after  plucking  the  orange  becomes 
more  and  more  compact,  then  afterwards  “ loosens 
up,”  so  to  speak.  When  the  first  weighings  were 
made  the  oranges  had  been  plucked  from  the  trees 
three  to  nine  days.  The  determinations  of  specific  gra- 
vity were  made  at  intervals  of  about  a week,  until  decay 
of  the  orange  was  observed  to  have  set  in.  In  all 
cases,  except  one,  the  initial  specific  gravity  was 
less  than  unity  . This  case  is  not  to  be  reckoned  as 
an  exception,  for  the  reason  that  the  orange  was 
three  weeks  from  the  tree  at  the  time  the  determi- 
nation was  made.  In  eight  cases  the  specific  gravity 
gradually  increased  during  the  first  three  to  six  weeks, 
then  declined.  In  two  cases  there  was  a decline 
from  the  first.  In  six  cases  the  increase  reached  a 
maximum  of  over  one.  In  all  cases  there  was  a 
constantly  increasing  loss  of  weight.  If  these  ten 
oranges  fairly  represent  what  usually  takes  place, 
the  matter  may  be  summed  up  as  follows.  (1).  The 
specific  gravity  of  a freshly  pulled  orange  is  geneially 
less  than  unity ; that  is,  it  will  generally  rise  to  the 
surface  if  placed  in  rain  or  distilled  water.  (2).  The 
spacific  gravity  of  a fresh  orange  generally  increases 
for  a while  as  the  drying-out  goes  on,  then  decreases 
the  maximum  often  exceeding  unity ; that  is,  an 
orange  which  at  first  would  rise  in  water  will  after 
a few  days  or  a week  sink,  than  later  rise. 
In  making  up  the  scale  for  honors  and  medals, 
weight  is  p>ut  down  at  ten.  In  view  of  our  record, 
it  would  be  manifestly  unfair  to  compare  the  weights 
of  oranges  that  had  been  pulled  from  the  trees 
different  lengths  of  time. 
WHEN  ORANGES  GET  SOLIDEST. 
We  have  not  room  for  this  table;  but  we  will 
summarize  it  as  follows:  No  specimen  when  freshly 
plucked  had  a specific  gravity  greater  than  one ; 
that  is,  they  would  all  float  in  water.  After  being 
kept  twenty-eight  days  the  Majorca  turned  the  point 
and  became  so  dense  as  to  sink ; the  Jaffa  in  twenty- 
one  days;  the  Navel  in  twenty-eight;  the  Tangerine 
not  at  all,  Columbia  county  (large)  not  at  all ; Co- 
lumbia county  (small)  twenty-one ; Maltese  Blood 
thirty-five ; Improved  Malta  fourteen  ; Double  Impe- 
rial not  at  all ; Indian  River  not  at  all ; Indian 
river  foundling  sixteen. 
WEIGHT  OF  PEEL  IN  FLORIDA  AND  CALIFORNIA  ORANGES. 
Last  year  Professor  E.  W.  Hilgard  made  an  ana- 
lysis of  California  oranges  of  the  crop  of  1891.  which 
was  published  in  the  Pacific  Rural  Press  of  July  11, 
1891.  He  analyzed  twenty-two  samples,  from  which 
we  exclude  three  because  they  were  coarse  seedlings. 
The  average  percentage  of  weight  of  peel  to  the 
entire  orange  in  the  nineteen  samples  was  26.22  The 
Florida  Experiment  Station  (Mr.  J.  J.  Earle)  ana- 
lyzed fifteen,  from  which  we  also  exclude  three 
seedlings  for  the  same  reason.  The  average  percen- 
tage of  weight  of  peel  in  the  twelve  samples  was 
21.25. — Florida  Dispatch. 
♦ 
BARK  AND  DRUG  REPORT. 
(From  the  Chemist  and  Druggist.) 
London,  Aug.  25th. 
Cinchona. — Tuesday’s  cinchoua  auctions  were  again 
light,  the  total  quantity  of  bark  offered  consisting 
only  of 
Paokages.  Packages. 
Ceylon  cinchona  ..  91  of  which  819  were  so  d 
East  Indian  cinchona 
111 
81 
Java  cinchsna 
30 
30 
West  African  cinchona  40  ,, 
South  American  Calisaya 
40 
cinchona 
435  ,, 
284 
Cuprea  .bark 
3-3 
1,850 
1,287 
The  assortment  was  very  poor,  barks  of  high  analysis 
being  almost  entirely  wanting.  There  was  also  a note- 
worthy paucity  of  East  Indian  bar-  3 Holders  were  very 
firm,  while  on  the  other  hand  there  was  a good  deal 
of  competition  among  the  manufacturers,  with  the  result 
