io'o 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Figure 2) a pipe leads through the wall 
of the pit to the collecting vessel in the 
pit. 
FILLING THE TANKS. 
After being put in position, the tanks 
were filled as follows: Over the sloping 
part of the bottom was placed a layer of 
water-worn quartz pebbles, the coarser 
material being placed around the drainage 
opening and the finer above. On the top 
of this layer of pebbles were placed 45 
inches of soil in the following manner: 
When the soil was taken from the site 
which each tank was to occupy, the top 
9 inches were taken off first, followed by 
three one-foot sections. The four lots of 
soil were kept separate, and the last foot 
taken from the ground was placed on the 
gravel in the bottom of the tank, then the 
next foot, and so on to the top 9 inches. 
The soil was well tamped as it was put in, 
each tank having the same weight of dry 
soil, 8,625 pounds. The tank was con¬ 
structed so as to give a surface area of 
one two-thousandth part of an acre, so 
that results can be calculated to the acre 
by multiplying by 2,000. Four such tanks 
with the collecting pit form a unit. 
SETTING OUT AND FERTILIZING THE 
TREES. 
The tanks were opened to the rainfall 
on July 7, 1910, and on July 15, one or¬ 
ange tree was set out in each tank. These 
trees, however, soon became infected with 
withertip, and made but little growth, and 
therefore probably had but slight influ¬ 
ence either on the soil or the composition 
of the drainage waters. No fertilizers 
were applied, as it seemed best to find out 
first the composition of the drainage 
water from the soil that had not been in¬ 
fluenced by fertilizers. The original trees 
having died, they were replaced with 
healthy three-year-old trees on the 14th 
of last February. A little later these were 
fertilized as follows: The tree in tank 
No. 1 was given the equivalent of two 
pounds of a mixture analyzing 5 per cent, 
ammonia, 6 per cent, phosphoric acid, 
and 6 per cent, potash, made from sul¬ 
phate of ammonia, acid phosphate and 
high-grade sulphate of potash. Tank No. 
2 received the same, and in addition will 
have beggarweed grown on it during the 
rainy season. Tank No. 3 received the 
same treatment as No. 1, except that ni¬ 
trate of soda is used as the source of 
nitrogen. Tank No. 4 had also the same 
as No. 1, except that dried blood was 
used as the source of nitrogen. It will 
be observed that the phosphoric acid and 
potash remain constant in all the tanks, 
both as to amount and source, and that 
the amount of nitrogen is also constant, 
but that it is derived from different 
sources for three of the tanks. This 
treatment will be continued from year to 
year, the quantity being increased with 
the demands of the trees. We will thus 
be enabled to make a comparison of the 
loss of nitrogen when these three mate¬ 
rials are used as sources of nitrogen, and 
the other factors are constant. Since the 
time when these fertilizers were applied, 
but little water has accumulated and no 
complete analysis has been made. The 
results here reported are on samples of 
water collected before the fertilizers were 
applied. 
