FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
119 
average farmer, for the reason that the average farmer 
is a novice in agricultural chemistry. Now while it is 
not absolutely necessary that the farmer or fruit grower 
should have much knowledge ol chemistry in order to raise 
good crops, still a knowledge of the chemistry of agriculture 
is of great advantage to him. He is continually hearing or 
reading of different fertilizing materials as containing so much 
phosphate, so much potash, so much ammonia, lime, etc., and 
doubtless queries to himself: What is potash, ammonia, etc., 
and what purpose do they fill in plant life? 
The life principle of both animal and vegetable existence is 
dependent upon phosphate. When orange fruit is analized 
we find that it contains no phosphate except in the seed. It 
is required there because the seed is the reproductive result of 
the plant growth. In orange culture, for instance, such varie¬ 
ties as the Satsuma, which does not produce many seeds, ex¬ 
perience will show, require less phosphate than other members 
of the citrus family. Again as to potash, what proportional 
amount is required by the soil for perfect p!aut growth, and 
what function will it fill in the economy of plant life? In 
regard to the amount of potash required, it varies with the 
condition of the soil. Some soils have a large percentage of 
potash in them. To say that all soils require a certain per¬ 
centage of potash is very incorrect. Analysis of fruit and 
tree show that they contain much less potash than is indicated 
by the amount required in the soil. Potash, by its presence 
and the chemical changes it produces in the soil and the plant, 
is indispensable to perfect plant life. Potash is for the pur¬ 
pose, therefore, of enabling the fruit to mature itself—its body 
structure—so to speak; its trunk, leaves, etc. All these re¬ 
ceive nourishment by means of the potash. It has a chemical 
action whereby the different materials are changed from one 
condition to another to suit the fruit. Potash is a vehicle. 
It is a means to an end, and has very little manural value as a 
fertilizer, as we understand manure, but it does just what 
gastric juice does in animal life. When man takes food into 
his stomach, the gastric juice comes in contact with it and 
enables the substance taken into the body to be digested and 
assimilated, and separates the different parts, each particular 
part to its particular end. Potash has largely the same effect 
in the vegetable economy as the gastric juice has in the ani¬ 
mal economy, only more varied, and a soil that is not well 
supplied with potash will not produce good vegetable growth. 
.In all fruit, with but few exceptions, phosphate is for the pur¬ 
pose of reproducing the individual plant. No fruit can 
have seed with phosphate. Phosphate has also a stimula¬ 
ting effect on plant life. 
