24 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
tween pure physics and horticulture; 
but chemistry as a science concerns it¬ 
self with the composition and materials 
that make up the soils, while physics 
concerns itself about the make up and 
conditions under which these various 
materials are found. The border lands 
of these two sciences overlap one an¬ 
other, so that a field may be approached 
from the realm of chemistry on the one 
hand, and from the realm of physics on 
the other hand., and find savants from 
both kingdoms rightfully encamped on 
the same ground. Battles for the mas¬ 
tery of these overlapping fields some¬ 
times occur, resulting in loss of time, 
and sometimes a loss of temper; all of 
which is a loss to horticulture and 
should not be tolerated. There is real¬ 
ly no harm in exploring a field from as 
many points of view as possible, and 
frequently a very great gain to all con¬ 
cerned. The able 'address before this 
Society last year by Prof Blair, shows 
how little we actually know about what 
goes on in the soil from a physical point 
of view. We had all along felt that 
there was a considerable loss of fertil¬ 
izer from the soil, due to leaching; but 
had been told repeatedly by trust-wor¬ 
thy witnesses that potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid became fixed in the soil. It 
is now demonstrated from a physicist’s 
point of view that a considerable 
amount of fertilizer is actually washed 
out and carried into the static water in 
the soil, from which it is impossible to 
reclaim any considerable portion. 
SOIL PHYSIOLOGY. 
The chemist has told us faithfully 
what he found in his crucible. The 
physicist is likewise telling us how dif¬ 
ferent natural and inert materials be¬ 
have in the soil ; how the water 
moves; what effect different elements 
produce in the soil when applied; but 
all of this still leaves us in the dark as 
to what role different living subjects 
play in the economy of plant growth. 
For the solution of these problems 
we shall have to look to the soil bac¬ 
teriologist and botanist. I need here 
only to mention the rather recent work 
that has been done on the nitrifying 
organisms, or the organisms which en¬ 
able leguminous plants to make use of 
the atmospheric nitrogen. 
We have here three distinct sciences, 
chemiistry, physics, and botany, which 
are each laboring actively to subdue the 
same realm, the soil. These three, 
however much they may discover, 
v/ill not complete the work for us. 
What we shall need when these three 
have secured the vast store of scienti¬ 
fic information locked up in the soil, is 
the physiological botanist to tell us 
what effect a variation of these factors 
has on our cultivated crops. Of what 
use is it to us to raise an orange that 
turns even the stomach of an insect, or 
to raise a variety of celery that has 
such a thick epidermis that even a fun¬ 
gus cannot pierce it? 
FERTILIZERS. 
There probably never has been a 
meeting of this Society during which 
the question of fertilizers was not dis¬ 
cussed, and it is to be hoped that this 
Society will not let the question rest, 
until all superstition and misconcep¬ 
tions have been cleared away. This 
ideal state will not be reached however, 
until we know more about our soil; un¬ 
til we know more about the needs of 
our plants; and until we know our fer¬ 
tilizers. What we believe as true of 
certain elements today, may tomorrow 
