92 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
fact that the market has grown as it has; 
that the materials are imported direct to 
this port from their points of production 
and the fact that the State of Florida it¬ 
self produces practically the Phosphate 
supplies for the world. I have heard many 
growers say they were raising orange 
groves, pineapple patches and vegetable 
crops for the fertilizer manufacturer, as 
they get all the money. The question 
must necessarily then be of all-absorbing 
interest to the horticulturalists of the 
State. 
The greater proportion of the groves 
and pineries are on high pine lands, which 
are composed of from 95 to 98 per cent, 
sand. The rest are mostly on hammocks 
that were quite rich to start on but under 
the draft of heavy crops of oranges their 
fertility was soon reduced to the same 
degree of poverty as the high pine lands 
so that the fertilizer question began to ap¬ 
peal to all alike and the whole country 
set in to study this subject. 
In this article I will only take up the 
question of fertilizing materials, princi¬ 
pally those that are used by the orange 
grower. 
Under the influence of the German 
Kaili Works the first article that seems to 
interest the orange grower the most is 
Potash. In the modest opinion of the 
writer they have worked Potash rather 
strong on the grower, claiming for its ex¬ 
cessive use a great many things that can¬ 
not be sustained. 
The first or crude produce of the Ger¬ 
man mines is Kainit, which gives 26 j>er 
cent, of Sulphate Potash, Salt, Magnesia, 
etc. This is purified and the Double Man¬ 
ure Salts of Potash, Magnesia was form¬ 
ed, which gives 50 to 52 per cent. Sulphate 
of Potash or 26 per cent. K2O and about 
35 per cent. Sulphate of Magnesia, with 
2.50 per cent, of salt. This is still further 
purified and the chemist obtains the al¬ 
most chemically High Grade Sulphate of 
Potash, 90 to 96 per cent Sulphate of 
Potash or 49 to 52 per cent K2O. 
On account of the supposed good effect 
of the Sulphate of Magnesia on the soil 
and the fruit a great many orange grow¬ 
ers prefer to buy Double Manure Salts, 
paying the difference in price and freights 
over the High Grade. I do not know 
whether they are justified or not in this 
belief, 
I will pass over the Murate of Potash 
because it is so little used by the grower, 
its high content of chlorine or salt mak¬ 
ing it objectionable to the orange tree. 
Nitrate of potash or salt petre is used 
to a limited extent. There are several 
grades, the highest 16 per cent, ammonia 
and 44 per cent of potash K2O, giving the 
ammonia a valuation of $3 per unit per 
cent, we find this a little cheaper source 
of potash than the sulphate. At a selling 
price of $92 per ton at Jacksonville the 
44 per cent, of Potash is worth $42 or 
less than $i for each per cent. It is very 
quick in its action and does not seem to 
combine readily with the soil elements 
and is in great danger of being washed 
out by heavy rains. 
The next imiportant element in a fertili¬ 
zer is the phosphoric acid, without it no 
blossom or seed is perfect. It is derived 
from a great many sources. Animal 
bone gives 4 to 5 per cent, ammonia and 
about 24 per cent, phosphoric acid of 
which from 6 to 10 per cent, is available 
to the plants, the rest gradually under¬ 
goes decomposition in the soil and it will 
take from three to five years for it all to 
become used up. Steamed bone gives 
