94 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The by-products of the slaughter hous¬ 
es, tankage or blood and bone furnish 
variable quantities of phosphoric acid and 
- ammonia. 
The next and most important element 
of all fertilizers is ammonia or nitrogen, 
it is the life, the growth of all plants. It 
is derived from a great many sources, 
which are divided into non-organic or 
chemical and organic. Of chemical am- 
moniates sulphate of ammonia heads the 
list, giving 25 per cent ammonia. This 
is one of the slowest of all, gradually 
changing into nitric acid in the soil. Ni¬ 
trate of soda or Chili salt peter gives 17 
to 19 per cent ammonia in its most availa¬ 
ble form, the nitric acid separating from 
thesoda at once,being immediately availa¬ 
ble to the plants. As it does not readily 
combine with the soil elements it is in dan¬ 
ger of being washed down below the reach 
of some plants by heavy rains. Nitrate of 
potash mentioned before has the same 
tendency. 
In the list of organic ammoniates we 
have dried blood, giving 17 per cent. 
This changes quite quickly into nitrate 
with a reasonable amount of soil water. 
Blood and bone or tankage contains from 
10 per cent, to 6 per cent, ammonia ac¬ 
cording to grade and changes rather slow¬ 
ly in the soil into Nitrate. 
Cotton seed meal furnishes 7 1-2 to 8 
per cent ammonia. Castor pomace con¬ 
tains from 6 to 6 1-2 per cent, ammonia. 
Tobacco stems furnish a small amount of 
ammonia from i to 3 per cent, and some 
potash, one grade giving 3 ammonia and 
TO potash which is in a very available 
form. 
You will see from the above list of am¬ 
moniates that you have quite a lot from 
which to choose but the intelligent hor- 
ticulturalist knows that the chemical am¬ 
moniates give the best results on orange 
trees and I will conclude by giving an ex¬ 
tract from an article by Mr. Herbert J. 
Webber, Assistant in Division of Vegeta¬ 
ble Pathology at Washington, and who is 
well known to most orange growers. 
^‘Probably no element of plant food 
used in the fertilization of orange trees 
should be more carefully considered with 
respect to both form and quantity than 
nitrogen. It is the most costly and at the 
same time the most dangerous element to 
use, as excessive applications are liable 
to result in extensive splitting and drop¬ 
ping of the fruit or in the production of 
the serious disease known as die-back.” 
“The mineral nitrogen manures, nitrate 
of soda and sulphate of ammonia appar¬ 
ently stimulate the production of fruit 
more than organic manures, and yet pro¬ 
duce a fair general growth. The fruit 
produced by fertilization with these salts 
used in correct proportions with the other 
elements, which it is necessary to apply, 
is usually of good quality, being solid, 
rich and juicy, with thin skins and little 
rag. Sulphate of ammonia has the effect, 
growers testify, of sweetening fruit to a 
great extent. 
“Sulphate of Ammonia has been very 
widely used among orange growers. Ni¬ 
trate of soda has been but little used thus 
far, but is apparently in favor. Its insec¬ 
ticide and water attracting properties are 
probably much greater than those of sul¬ 
phate of ammonia. 
“Organic manures are of doubtful util¬ 
ity. Barn manure is largely used by 
many growers who still hold to the tra¬ 
dition that chemical manures are injuri¬ 
ous to the plants. The benefits of bam 
manure in an orange grove are a serious 
