84 
•! FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
of what it can out of this, for the next 
six months more or less, although its food 
is being rapidly carried out of its reach, 
and I have no doubt but that the amount 
of available plant food within access of 
the plant roots, during the last few 
months of such a period, is exceedingly 
small. In other words, we give it a sur¬ 
feit of food in one meal and then starve it 
for some months. Does not the remedy 
in this lie in our dividing up our appli¬ 
cations, making several of them through 
the season, keeping our plants supplied 
with avaliable food in small amounts, as 
required. I believe that such a practice 
would result ih a considerable saving and 
that a smaller amount of fertilizer so ap¬ 
plied, would produce the results of one 
or two large applications. To get the best 
results such a system of applying fertili¬ 
zers should be accompanied with means 
of irrigating, so that, with each small ap¬ 
plication, if there were not sufficient rain¬ 
fall, just enough water could be applied 
to bring the food into solution, but not 
enough to leach through the soil. It is 
true that the proper carrying out of such 
a system would involve some initial ex¬ 
pense, but to the progressive farmer of 
today, who aims to get the best results at 
the least expense, and can look ahead on 
his balance sheet, it will eventually save 
money. 
Another source of loss, which however 
is largely temporary, and with the pres- 
*ent system of applying fertilizers perhaps 
more beneficial than otherwise, is the 
chemical changes that the fertilizing ma¬ 
terial undergoes in the soil, tending in 
general, to pass from a soluble to a less 
soluble form. This would be obviated, 
to a considerable extent, by the system 
just suggested. 
The belief in the value of a chemical 
soil analysis as an indication of what is 
necessary to add to that soil in order to 
make it fertile, is rapidly loosing ground, 
and attention is being turned more par¬ 
ticularly to the bacteriology of the soil, 
the various conditions of acidity and alka¬ 
linity, the changes of the humus in the 
soil etc., and when the present lines of in¬ 
vestigations shall have advanced further, 
we may hope for a more practical and in¬ 
timate knowledge of the relation existing 
between the chemistry of the soil and the 
fertilization oi plants. 
Present methods of soil analysis are 
aiming to determine the plant food that 
is actually available to the plant, rather 
than the total amount of such material 
in the soil. These methods should give 
a much better idea of what is needed 
than the methods formerly employed. 
The farmer has two valuable and in¬ 
expensive means of improving his soil 
and thereby cutting down his fertilizer 
expenses, which I do not think are prac¬ 
tised nearly to the extent that they should 
be, and these are, the plowing under of 
green crops and the growing of legumin¬ 
ous crops as a source of nitrogen. As 
the natural sources of fertilizing material 
become less abundant and more expen¬ 
sive, in the future, these means will be 
more appreciated and used. It is a strik¬ 
ing fact that is noticeable as we review 
the developement and advancement of 
civilization, with its ever increasing neces¬ 
sities and requirements, that no sooner 
does an urgent emergency arise for any¬ 
thing that may contribute to the comfort 
and welfare of mankind, than some dis¬ 
covery is made that supplies that demand. 
Up to the present time, we have lived in 
a time when nature, by the exploration 
