FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
93 
Report by Cyrus W* Butler* 
In the line of irrigation my experience 
amounts to nothing, and I therefore have 
nothing to say. 
Fertilizers for Orange Groves. 
It is customary to approach this subject 
with the remark that we *'know nothing 
of it,’’ which, though much nearer the 
truth than to say that we ^‘know all about 
it,” is still not in accordance with the just 
laws of Nature, who, we know, yields her 
secrets slowly but surely to all who seek 
her earnestly and faithfully. And who 
among us will deny that the orange grow¬ 
ers of Florida have sought earnestly and 
faithfully for an answer to the question as 
to what my Lady Orange Tree will have 
for her breakfast this spring, her lunch 
this summer and dinner this fall?—and 
who among the growers, of all that portion 
of the world known to us, have been able 
to produce an orange so nearly perfect as 
the best of the products of our own sun¬ 
ny skies, sandy soil and carefully blended 
food. Not that we would ascribe the 
peculiar excellence of our Florida oranges 
to fertilizer alone, for some of our best 
fruit has been produced entirely without 
artificial food; but to produce this fruit in 
abundance and, at the same time, maintain 
its quality is the question that has taxed 
the brains of our orange growers for the 
last fifty years, with results that have 
placed the better class of our fruit upon 
the highest pinnacle of citrus fame. So, 
theoretically, we conclude that the orange 
growers of Florida should know some¬ 
thing of an orange tree’s food require¬ 
ments, while, practically, the orange de¬ 
monstrates the correctness of the con¬ 
clusion. 
Without going into the theoretically 
scientific, which is often more theoretical 
than scientific, I will give my present 
course, which is the result of twenty years 
of experience, involving some midnight 
oil reflection, but much more midday sun¬ 
shine and observation—not to mention 
sweat and sandspurs; but the latter are 
for|fotten as we recall the beautiful green 
trees, the sweet odor of the blossoms and 
the exquisite flavor of the golden fruit. 
While soil analysis may give us some 
partial pointers, practical^ we may con¬ 
sider the average pine land of Florida as 
simply a lodging place for the tree, as its 
meals must be furnished from outside 
sources, that is, so far as the elements of 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash are 
concerned; and, as these elemjents are 
generally considered the only ones neces¬ 
sary to purchase, the question of composi¬ 
tion resolves itself into the best sources 
and relative proportions of these elements. 
Proportion. 
However widely the different brands of 
fertilizers varied twenty years ago, to-day 
nearly all of them will run between two 
to four per cent, ammonia, with six to 
eight per cent, phosphoric acid and ten to 
twelve per cent, potash; and it is probable 
that, within these limits, the necessities of 
the average grove, in normal condition, 
can best be supplied; but it has long been 
a question with me as to whether the same 
proportions of these elements should pre¬ 
vail in the three applications that most 
growers make during the year. 
So I will give my present method, 
even though it contains nothing new to 
most old growers. 
