FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL- SOCIETY. 107' 
they will condense enough moisture from the air to dissolve* 
themselves. I know of a grower of oranges in Florida who 
ordered a sack of nitrate of soda, and when it reached his de¬ 
pot he refused to take it, claiming that it had been allowed to 
get wet and consequently ruined. He at once wrote the ship¬ 
per that the wet sack of nitrate of soda was at the depot sub¬ 
ject to his order. That if he could not ship him dry nitrate 
of soda he did not want him to ship any at all. This grower 
simply showed his ignorance of the nature of nitrate of soda. 
The high price of nitrate of soda has led some unscrupulous 
people to adulterating it, thus enabling them to double their 
profits. Common coarse salt is the agent used most fre¬ 
quently for this purpose, also kainit and sometimes sand. The 
salt and kainit can be readily detected by taking a small par¬ 
ticle in the mouth. If it dissolves readily, leaving a cooling 
sensation, it is apt to be all rignt, but if it gives a salty flavor 
it would be well to have it analyzed before buying. 
Nitrate of potash is sometimes used as a fertilizer, but its 
expensivene>s keeps it from coming into general use. 
Guano was one of the first forms of commercial fertilizers 
offered to the public?. Its effect on the soil was wonderful. It 
is accounted for by the high per cent, of ammonia which it 
contained, together with phosphoric acid, the soil then con¬ 
taining plenty of potash. Repeated applications of guano r 
however, did not give the same results, and it was soon looked 
upon as a “stimulant’' only, when in reality the cause was that 
it was a “one-sided” fertilizer. It is used to some extent yet as 
a source of ammonia in manipulated fertilizers, but the use of 
it is decreasing, owing to the guano beds becoming exhausted. 
Besides ammonia it contains phosphoric acid and a small pet 
cent, of potash. 
DRIED BLOOD 
is also extensively used as a source- of ammonia, and is 
obtained from the great slaughter houses where it is pressed, 
dried and ground and shipped to various parts of the country. 
It is one of the best sources of ammonia among the organic 
substances. 
TANKAGE 
is the refuse of slaughter houses that has been cooked and put 
under pressure to extract the particles of fat that it might 
contain, and is then dried and ground. In Florida it is known 
as blood and bone, and in other sections of the country it is 
sold as animal guano, but it is all tankage. There are several 
grades of tankage which are sold on the percentage of ammo¬ 
nia and phosphoric acid or bone phosphate lhatthey contain. 
