my 
each 100 square feet of bench area. If the 
soil is low in potash add 1/2 pound of mux 
tate of potash per 100 square feet. Lime, 
phosphate and potash are worked into the soil 
before planting. This will usually be enough 
of all three for one year and in many oases 
for two or three years. Test the soil for 
nitrate once each month and when it is re 
duced to 15 to 25 parts per million by the 
Spurway Quick Test add 1 pound of ammonium 
sulfate or 1/2 pound of ammonium nitrate to 
each 100 square feet. 
The best method of applying these nitro- 
gen carriers is in liquid form. F4ll your 
power sprayer with water, remove the spray 
nozzel and water a bench. When the tank is 
empty measure the area covered. Weigh the 
amount of material necessary and dissolve it 
in the tank of water, then cover the area as 
with the trial tank of water. Your speed of 
coverage will be about the same as before and 
the nitrate will go into the soil, 
After the fertilizer is applied, flood 
and drain the bench or surface water to fur= 
ther leach the fertilizer into the soil. 
AD 4 46 00-40-45 4 AE OO at 10 HOt 
SOME THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED ABOUT WATERING 
1. Plants in 5 or 6 inohes of soil 
grow better if the soil is kept uniformly © 
wet than if it ia allowed to dry consider 
ably between waterings. This has been true 
with roses, carnations, peas, chrysanthemuns, 
snapdragons, and other orops. 
2. It is uneconomical to surface Water 
by hand as frequently as ise necessary to 
keep the soil uniformly moist. You would 
need to water roses in shallow soil every 
day and carnations about every second day. 
3. Immediately following the planting 
of roses, rooted outtings, or potted plants 
of any kind, you should water the soil thor— 
oughly and not let it dry to more than 1 inok 
of tension before you water it again. Plants 
may be injured if you allow them to become 
dry after the first watering. This is es— 
pecially true in spring and summer. 
4, For potbound plants shifted to 
larger pots, you should keep the soil wet 
for the first 7 to 10 days after shifting 
them. This enoourages roots to grow into 
the new soil, 
We find’ poinsettias are best if watered 
every day for 10 days after panning. The 
best results were obtained when panned plants 
were set in a watertight bench with the base 
of the pot standing in water for the first 
week, Leaf loss or dead areas in the leaf 
may be caused from drying. 
The reasons for keeping plants wet 
after planting are the following: (1) Roots 
grow from drier to wetter soils. (2) Plants 
are injured if they cannot get water, The 
idea that roots grow better in dry soils 
than in wet soil ie an incorreot interpreta- 
tion of an age-old fact. In dry soil the tops 
are stunted but the roots continue to grow, 
Florist crops are not grown for roots, there= 
fore, it is undesirable to stunt the top, es= 
pecially in the early stages of growth. (3) 
Plants benched or shifted are able to with— 
draw water from the area in which the roots 
exist. They are dependent on capillary move= 
ment of water to this area from the new soil. 
If water loss is rapid, the ball of soil in 
which the roots exist, dries and shrinks 
slightly. This allows an air space around 
the original ball and water no longer moves 
to the ball by ocapillarity. Watering fre- 
quently at first to keep the soil very moist 
allows good capillary movement of water to 
the ball of roots and supplies the ball with 
water until the roots have wn enough to 
reach into the new soil, (4) Surface watering 
destroys the soil structure and produces a 
puddled cocndition. 

Propagating Bench — Oonstant water level 
using poultry watering float valve to main- 
tain water level. Cornell University 1/46 
