628 
THE TROPICAL 
AaPJCULTURLST. fMA7?CH 1, 1900, 
example through: a plot of land 50 by 100 feet; 
plama or single stems, total number 1,600 :it three 
by one foot planting; five seei-s of tomatoes per 
piant — and all of the finest quality be it noted ; live 
by 1,600—8,000 seera of tomatoes, at four annas per 
seer gives R2,000. But I liave in mind th^t my 
readers are not ready-ma.de experts. There is much 
of routine only possible fi'om lieeu enthusiastic ex- 
perience, and so I'll rednoa this estimate foj tlie 
planter and the amateur by fifty per cent — th/.,t is, 
the yield; and call it 2i seern per plant at 111,000. 
Now I am absolutel'/ at a loss to know how the 
grower is going to spend R500 by way of expen- 
diture on this culture and everything counectr-d with 
it to the sale of the pi-o.-luoe, but it is conceivable 
he may do so. Still he \\n cent per cent proti". and. 
that should satisfy the mo t exacting. This is ex- 
clusively applicable to the plains. I would here warn 
the hill gardener against any he.-ivy speculation in 
tomatoes, because he lias to grow through the monsoon 
season and that is quite another thing, as I happen 
to know to my own cost v^ry dearly. 
KX AMPLE. 
la 1897 I was going to m^ike a small fortune, and 
had 4,000 plants all grown aa detailed here. They 
got through the rains piMtty vje\[, until neariug the 
end of September, and hung like ropes of onions, to 
the extent of very many inaunds; hundreds of the 
fruits weighing over a pound each, of faultless shape, 
and with the colour just developing in all directions. 
Then there came quite uaexpectedly over a foot of 
rain in twenty-four lioui^i, and I was congratulating 
myself on how well they h id stood the downpour, 
when lo, on the third div, black spots appeared; 
on the next day it had deve! >p6d fifty per cent and 
ere a week was up, the oniira crop was an absolute • 
maaa of disease, a total failure and a dead loss. 
CONXLUSI^N. 
Like the potato t'le toin.ito plant will not thrive 
in a wet or swampy soil, neither is excessive moisture 
at any time a blessing. It delights in a well drained, 
friable, easily worked soil, abounding in potash salts. 
It may not be generally known that tomatoes are 
excellent things for cleaning metal with, and taking 
out stains, &c, due to the potash absorbed by the 
fruits from the soil. I should suppose too that it 
is the potash they contain, that accounts for their 
excellent action on the system, at least to a con- 
siderable extent. It is therefore an excellent medicine 
and delicious food, far too little understood and ap- 
preciated in this country, and should, I venture to 
think, be recommended and extended in its culture 
everywhere, seeing, as I have endeavoured to show, 
that it could be produced on the plains above all 
places in quantity and quality, and very far from 
being a non-profitable crop if the best form of 
culture ia once understood. — Pioneer, Oct. 9. 
DESCRIPTION OF FERTILIZER 
MATERIALS. 
Indirect Fertilizers, — A stimulant or indirect fertir 
lizer is one which does not in itself furnish directly 
to the soil any needed plant-food, but whose ohi-f 
value depends upon the power it possesses of chang- 
ing unavailable into available forms of plant-food. 
The stimulants or indirect fertilizers which have been 
moat commonly employed aie lime, gypsum and 
common salt. 
Gypsum, or land-plaster, known also as calcium 
sulphate or sulphate of lime, in some manner aids 
the process of nitrification, by wMch ammonia and 
the nitrogen or organic matter are converted into 
nitric acid and nitrates. It also acts upon the in- 
soluble forms of potash and other elements of plant- 
food, converting tli^-m into soluble and available 
forms; it is of value on certain soils to certain 
crops, such as clover, peas, lucerne and similar 
plants. 
Quicklime or burnt lime, or calcium oxide, com- 
monly called lime, produces changes in both the 
physical and the chemical character of .soils Freshly 
burned lime acts chemically upon soil^ by decom- 
posing vegetable and mineral matter already present 
in the soil and changing them into forms which are 
available as food for the plant. Thus, lime acts 
upon insoluble mineral substances containing ootash, 
etc., and converts them into soluble foims. Lnne aids 
in thft decomposition of aninial and vcgetaDle matter, 
such as vege able mould, stable nm nnre, elc. .md tends 
to convert them into available plant-fcod- In using 
linre, care should be taken not to use too large 
qurnlities at a time, and, ordinarily, it is best to 
use it in connection with liberal applicaticns of nutri- 
tive fertilizing substances. Lime can be used to 
advantfige on freshly drained swamp-lai ds and also 
on lands newly cleared. 
Common salt has an irdirect fertilizing value which 
is mainly due to the fact that it has the power of 
changing unavailable forms of plant-food, especially 
potash, into available forms. 
Danger of Using Stimulant Fertilizers. — It should 
be kept in mind that these stimulant fertilizers — 
that is, gypsum (or plaster) lime, and salt. — are 
not used for the plunt-food contained in th(-m ; hence, 
as used, they do not furnish needed pin nt-food. The 
chief value of their use lies in the fact that they 
can change unavailable into available forms of food- 
plant. It can readily be seen that, when stimulant 
fertilizers are used exclusively for a term of years, 
the soil each year loses nitrogen, potash and pbos- 
phiric acid, which are not replaced. I'he inevitable 
result of such treatment is the exhaustion of these 
important food constituents from the soil. This 
affords an explanation of the question often raised now 
aa to why the application cf lime does net give such 
results in crop yields at present as in former days. 
When lime was the only fertilizing material added 
to soils tor years in succession, it was possible to 
produce increased crops, so long as there was in 
the soil enough compounds of nitrogen, potassium and 
phosphorus to be rendered available by the action 
of the lime. When, therefore, these forms of plant- 
food were la.rgely removed, there was nothing for 
the lime to act upon, in order to increase the sup- 
ply of available food material. The lime furnished 
needed no food, dut simply helped the crop to use 
more rapidly the store of plant-food present in the 
soil. 
Direct Fertilizers. — Direct fertilizers contain forms 
of plant-food, which contribute directly to the growth 
and substance of plants. Such mateiials may con- 
tain either nitrogen, or potash, or phosphoric acid 
compounds, or any two, or all three of these forms 
of plant food. 
Nitrate of soda, known as "Chili saltpeter," is 
found in large deposits which have been formed in 
the rainless regions of Chili and Peru. Good com- 
mercial nitrate of suda contains from 1.5§ to 16 per 
cent, of nitrogen. 
Sulphate of ammonia is formed from waste materials 
produced in the manufacturing of illuminating gas 
or coke. Sulphate of ammonia contaias about 25 
per cent, of ammonia, which is equivalent to about 
20i^ per cent, of nitrogen. 
Cotton seed meal is the product fromed by removing 
the oil from cotton seed by pressure, after which 
the material is dried and ground. Cotton seed meal 
contains about 7 per cent, of nitrogen, 3 per cent, 
of phosphoric acid, and 2 per cent of potash. The 
hulls ot the cotion seed also possess considerable 
fertilizing value. 
Tobacco stems are the refuse from tobacco factories. 
They contain usually from 5 to 8 per cent, of potash, 
2 to 3 per cent, of nitrogen, and a small quantity 
of phosphoric acid. 
Dried blood consists of blood obtained from slaughter- 
ing animals; it is prepared for market by evapor- 
ating, drying and grinding. The color varies from 
red to biack. Dried blood contains from 10 to 1» 
per cent, ot nitrogen. 
Dried fish, scraps and ground fish consist of re- 
fuse from fish-oil works and canneries ; it is dried 
