Oct. 1, 1901. J Supplment to the Tropical Agriculturist." 
285 
what can be saved, and it is utilised to thebest 
advantage. At the same time all materials that 
can be made use of to the benefit of the laud 
sliould be impressed into service. 
As regards special fertilizers, which co ntain 
particular substances concentrated generally in 
comparaiively small bulk, though their value is 
generally admitted, yet owing to their cost in 
most cases and the lack of knowledge as to their 
economical use, they have not come iuto extended 
use in the Colonies. Though plants contain various 
substances which they, for the most part extract 
from the soil, yer, the demands of the crops are sup- 
plied mainly by three. These are nitrogen which 
must be in the form of soluble nitrates or ammonia 
salts, potash, and phosphoric acid, which must 
also be in a soluble condition. Unless these mate- 
rials are in such a state as to supply plants with 
the necessary amount of food for their develope- 
meut,'they might as well not exist in the soil. 
Through the absence of one essential ingredient 
land may be too poor to pay for cultivating, 
though it may be rich in the other elements of 
fertility. Thus a piece of land may be very rich 
in potash and phosphoric acid, yet if wanting in 
nitrogen it will be practically barren. By the use 
of special manures such deficiencies when known 
can be made good, and in the land brought into 
condition for cultivation. Again, special fertilizers 
may be said to be necessary for particular crops 
that extract large proportions of certatn mate- 
rials from the soil. But to use these fertilizers 
properly a knowledge both of the material 
that is being used and of the requirements of 
the lands. To apply any ingredient which is 
already amply provided in the soil will not only 
be a waste of money, but may actually lessen fer- 
tility, The right material must be supplied in 
the right proportion, and the careful cultivator 
can always pretty correctly find out what his 
land requires by making experiments. There is 
no doubt that in most cases the outlay on special 
fertilizers (in spite of their cost) will prove a judi- 
cious investment. 
Again, it must be remembered that manures 
should be applied in such a manner as to afford 
the greatest amount of benefit. The practice of 
leaving manure in heaps for any length of time 
entails both waste of material and labour as well 
as irregular fertilising. For fruit trees it is recom- 
mended that manure should be applied just before 
the hot weather sets in, as it will shelter the soil 
from the sua and furnish plants with food when 
they most require it. As a general rule, it is not 
advisable to bury manure too deeply, and it 
should be distributed as evenly as possible. Arti- 
ficial or special fertilizers sliould be applied to the 
surface and afterwards incoiporated with the soil. 
We have to acknowledge our indebtedness for 
many of the ideas in the above to "Alfulta,"a 
familiar contributor on agricultural subjects. 
FIEST STEPS IN AGRICULTURE. 
First Staf/e — 5th Lesson. 
BY A. J. B. 
So far 1 have told you very little about seeds, 
but a farmer must know all about the seeds h« 
buys or produces. He must be able to Judg* 
whether they are living and whether they are 
such as will produce a good plant. It is also 
very necessary to be sure that they are not 
mixed with othur seeds. In lesson 1 I explained 
to you how e^ en useful plants become weeds 
whenever they grow with a crop which requires 
all the ground for itself. Thus you learned that 
oats may be looked upon as weeds if they 
grow up in a wheat field. The farmers on tha 
Darling Downs do all they can to get rid of 
these " strangers " as they call them, because if 
they ripen and are harvested with the wheat, 
the miller will not give such a good price for 
the grain as they would if it were not mixed 
with oats. Seeds are very often destroyed by 
little tiny insects. They bore a hole in them, 
and eat that little living part which you re- 
member is called the "germ," If the germ is 
destroyed, the seed cannot grow, and all the 
farmer's labour and expense will be lost if he 
is not careful to get good, fresh seed. But 
how is he to tell whether they are good and 
fresh ? Look for yourselves- Here I have a 
packet of one kind of seed, and here is another 
of the same kind. One is very old, the other 
is quite fresh. Now examine each lot of seeds 
carefully, and try to find out which is good, and 
which is bad. You point out the dusty lot, and 
say, that is bad ? You are quite right, but 
how do you know that I did not put tha 
dust into that packet ? You think the seeds in 
it look duller than those in the other packet, 
and they feel lighter than the other. Now, 
without my telling you how to distinguish 
the bad seed from the good, you yet have done 
so. You see, therefore, that by making use of 
the intelligence God has given you, you can 
make a little discovery like this. If, as you grow 
older, you continue to use that intelligence, 
to keep your eyes and ears open to learn from 
others who have studied many things belonging 
to agriculture, you will not fail to be successful 
farmers. But there is yet another way to tell 
whether the seeds are bad or good. You noticed 
the dust ? Well, I did not put that dust there. 
How then did it make its appearance ? Examine 
a seed carefully. What have you found ! Oh ! 
so your sharp eyes have found a tiny hole in 
several of the seeds. How did the hole get 
there ? Did I make it with a pin ? No, it was 
done by an insect, and now you see that ths 
dust is caused by the insect devouring the 
germ of the seed, and masticating and digesting 
its food. The dust then is composed of the 
remains of the inside of the seed. 
you told me that the seed in one packet 
felt lighter than the seed in the other. Let 
us see if that is so, but first we will blow 
away the dust. Here is a small pair of scales. 
I place the seeds of one packet in this scale. 
Now drop the others into the empty scale. 
What happens? You notice that one scale is 
still resting on the table and the other is raised 
in the air. That shows you, that although 
there are exactly the same number of seeds in 
each packet, yet one lot is lighter than the other, 
and therefore must have lost something. That 
omething is ths life of tha seed— the germ. 
