

me 
house plants (many prefer a mixture of Stump- 
dirt and soil on a 50-50 basis rather than 100% 
Stumpdirt in pots), has convinced hundreds that 
these plants too like Stumpdirt. 

Nature’s Own Formula 
I could go on telling you further facts about 
the long life of Stumpdirt as a plantfood or the 
amazing way it makes roots grow, but the space 
will not permit. This may be as well, for sooner 
or later someone is going to ask the “why” of 
it all and I will have to confess that I am 
“stumped.” Stumpdirt is nature’s, own plantfood 
and I guess she is the only one who can tell the 
whole story as she alone knows the formula. I 
suspect, however, that she has incorporated in 
Stumpdirt various helpful plant bacteria as well 
as several of the little known, but vitally neces- 
sary elements that we do not list as standard 
fertilizer ingredients. 
The native plants which the most of us love 
best because they are “scarce” and hard to grow 
around the home show the greatest response to 
Stumpdirt. These plants want and will only grow 
right when planted with virgin plant food around 
their roots. Stumpdirt is the original plantfood. 
It was used by nature herself ages before the first 
of our fertilizers were made and marketed. It is 
really a soil conditioner and not sold as a fer- 
tilizer, yet it will do more than all the fertilizers 
man has made. z , 
Plants Cannot Read Analysis Tag 
One thing that many of us overlook is the fact 
that plants cannot read the analysis tag on a bag 
of fertilizer and our native plants at least would 
not give a nickel if they could. The accepted idea 
that all we have to do to make plants grow is to 
use so many units of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and 
Potash and that chemical fertilizers are cheapest 
and best because they often furnish these units 
at less cost is definitely out. Few chemicals he!p 
the physical condition of the soil and many, if 
used in large quantities, actually affect adversely 
and the soil becomes hard and unproductive. 
Farmers in the East, where chemical fertilizers — 
have been used for years, often express the wish 
that they could have “new” soil again. The best 
that can be done in most cases is to plow under 
heavy cover crops to get wood and fibre in the 
ground again. Our native plants, flowers, and 
trees bring this problem to us in a greatly ex-_ 
aggerated form. Many of them simply will not 
thrive when chemical fertilizers are used, but 
