Laying the Foundation for a Successful Garden 
THE FIRST FACTOR IN GAINING GARDEN RESULTS IS THE PROPER CONDITION OF THE SOIL- 
HOW TO FEED IT TO SUPPLY VARIOUS PLANT FOODS—AN EXPLANATION OF FERTILIZATION 
BY F. F. Roc K W ELL 
T HERE are many factors which go to the making of a suc¬ 
cessful garden, some of which we can control and some of 
which we cannot. One of the factors we can control in a very 
definite way is the supply of plant food in the soil. It is a factor 
we not only can control, but must look after if we are to expect 
good results in the garden. We can buy the best of seeds and 
plants; take the greatest care in setting them out and cultivating 
them: have a good season so far as temperature and rainfall are 
concerned (or even supply 
irrigation), and still, if the 
soil is lacking in plant food, 
or even one kind of plant 
food, the results will be dis¬ 
appointing. 
To most people, “making 
the soil rich” is a very hazy 
and indefinite phrase. It 
suggests putting on “lots of 
manure” or “plenty of fer¬ 
tilizer but as to why they 
are put on, what they con¬ 
tain that makes it worth 
while to put them on, how 
plants use the various foods 
they contain—these are 
things which the amateur 
gardener, and often even the 
professional grower, has 
never had clearly brought to 
his attention. It has become 
so much the custom to look 
upon gardening as a recrea¬ 
tion that we are in danger of 
forgetting that it is, in addi¬ 
tion to that, an art, and to 
some extent a science, and 
that it will pay well in the 
end, even from the point of 
view of the amount of fun 
we can get out of it, to put 
some work on the technique, 
even though it may seem for 
the time being much less in¬ 
teresting to read about 
chemical fertilizers than 
about the wonderful new 
climbing roses, or how to 
grow the most lucious muskmelons and full-meated tomatoes. 
I here are a number of so-called “elements” which go to make 
up the complete diet of growing plants, but the only ones with 
which we need concern ourselves are nitrogen, phosphoric acid 
and potash. Practically all soils which have been used for a num¬ 
ber of years, and even new soils which never have been exhausted 
through producing crops, are found to be deficient in one or more 
of these three plant foods. Now, it is a peculiarity of plants that 
when any of these three elements becomes exhausted they will stop 
growth right there—they will not continue to go ahead and “fill up 
on somehing else.” An abundance of potash and nitrogen will 
avail nothing if phosphoric acid is lacking, and vice versa. To 
produce a full crop, the biggest we can expect to grow of any par¬ 
ticular thing, these three plant foods have to be contained in the 
soil in a certain proportion or ratio. And any one of them that 
falls below, or the one that falls farthest below, the minimum re¬ 
quired for a full crop, we call the limiting factor; because, until 
the amount of plant food of that kind is increased, we cannot hope 
to get a full crop of whatever we may be growing. If any one 
element of the plant food is 
deficient in growing a crop 
it will set a limit beyond 
which we cannot go until the 
deficiency is made up. That 
is fact number one, which 
you should fix very firmly in 
mind. And there is another 
peculiarity of plants which 
you should understand very 
thoroughly, and that is that 
it makes no difference how 
much plant food you add to 
the soil, and how much nitro¬ 
gen, phosphoric acid and 
potash there may be in the 
soil; unless it is in what is 
called available forms, the 
plants cannot make use of it. 
They will starve in the midst 
of plenty, just as you would 
in the grocery section of a 
department store if you had 
no way of opening the cases 
and cans of food. Plant 
food that is locked up, that 
is not soluble, will be of no 
use to the plants for the 
present. Natural causes, 
such as decomposition and 
the chemical changes that 
take place in the soil, may 
make them available later. 
But, as many garden crops 
mature in a few months, 
this will not answer your 
purpose; so remember that 
plants require not only 
plenty of plant food, in the 
right proportions, but plant food that is available. 
Now, there are a number of things which directly affect the 
availability of the plant food in the soil. First, the chemical condi¬ 
tion of the soil. It has been found that in soils which are “sour” 
plants cannot make full use of the plant food on hand. This is 
remedied by applying lime; and it has been found that in most 
soils a heavy application of lime — one to two tons — once in every 
three to five years, will be very beneficial. Ground limestone is 
usually the most convenient and the best form to use, but any 
good agricultural lime will do. You should he sure, however, 
that it is good, and if you are going to use any great amount it is 
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