JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURF  A\D  COTTAGE  G  A  RDF  RE  II. 
April  28,  1901. 
3G_> 
tlie  difficulties  involved  in  Mr.  Sanders’  ideal,  and  laid  special 
stress  n^jon  tlie  burden  ot  excc's.sive  railway  rates  in  this  country. 
He  cited  as  an  C'stablished  instance  the  tact  that  Mediterranc?an 
produce  was  sent  by  rail  to  Paris,  carted  across  Paris  to  the 
noitliern  railways,  shipped  troni  Ponlogne  to  this  country,  and 
brought  tiom  the  landing  ports  by  rail  and  van  to  Covent 
Garcien,  all  tor  the  same  rate  as  is  charged  for  the  same 
packages  troin  Covent  Garden  to  Brighton.  How,  he  asked, 
under  such  circumstances,  was  it  possible  for  the  British  grower 
to  compete  with  the  foreigner:'  Mr.  Dennis  differed  entirely 
from  IMr.  Sanders  as  to  cereal  culture  being  played  out  in  this 
country,  stating  that  owing  to  the  immense  advance  ot  know¬ 
ledge  in  the  way  ot  soil  treatment,  and  the  great  improvement 
in  the  cereals  themselves  by  selection,  the  British  farmer  was 
able  to  I’aise  tar  heavier  crops  to  the  acre  than  was  done  in  any 
other  country,  and  consequeiitiy,  it  this  line  were  followed  up, 
he  was  fully  able  to  hold  his  own  provided  the  railway  ancl 
oth"!’  hindrances  were  removed. 
Mr.  Chas.  Pearson  and  others  pointed  out  the  curious  unwil-  . 
lingness  ot  the  British  growers  to  co-operate  on  continental 
lines,  each  man  sending  his  on  n  little  lot  independently  to 
market,  whether  ot  fruit  or  dairy  pioduce,  at  a  necessarily  high 
cost,  instead  ot  arranging  with  his  neighbours  and  sending  bulk 
Cjuantities  on  infinitely  more  economical  and  business-like  lines, 
d’he  result  of  tliis  lack  ot  cohesion  is  that  large  quantities  of 
Onions  and  similar  things  are  sent  over  hei'e  on  a  i^rofitablo 
basis  by  Dutch  and  other  growers,  who  combine  on  rational 
lines,  and  make  good  pioiits  at  onr  expen.se.  Mr.  Geo.  Monro 
endorsed  many  of  iMr.  Dennis’s  remarks,  and  e.specially  those 
relating  to  railway  rates,  supplementing  them  by  his  own 
experience,  as  to  bad  grading  and  packing  which  characterised 
so  much  of  the  produce  sent  to  market,  only  to  leave  a  loss. 
Both  the  address  and  the  points  raised  in  di.scussion  were  felt 
to  be  of  such  practical  importance  that  it  is  much  to  be 
regretted  that  a  mere  abstract  should  be  all  that  is  practicable 
as  a  permanent  record.  A  hearty  vote  of  thanks  was  followed 
by  the  announcement  that  at  the  next  monthly  dinner  of  the 
club,  on  ^lay  17,  Sir  John  Ijlewelyu,  Bart.,  would  address  the 
members  on  “  Himalayan  Rhododendrons  for  English  Gardens,  ’ 
a  theme  with  which  he  is  so  well  fitted  to  deal. 
Something  About  Manures. 
To  what  extent  electrical  enersry  is  involved  in  plant  pro¬ 
duction  is  as  yet  hut  little  understood.  Latterly  the  agencic.s 
of  microscopic  life  in  the  soil  have  been  found  to  have  an 
importance  that  but  a  few  years  ago  was  not  dreamed  of.  dlie 
substances  required  bv  these  soil  organisms  are  tho.se  which 
essentially  compose  fertile  soils,  perfect  plants,  and  mseful 
manures,  viz.,  oxygen  gas  and  carbonic  acid  gas  of  the  air, 
water  of  air  and  soil,  sand,  clay,  and  humus  (or  decaying 
vegetable  matter)  of  the  soil,  and  the  several  forms  of  plant 
food  which  the  productive  soil  is  the  .source  of — sulphates, 
phosphates,  nitrates,  and  carbonates  of  potash,  ammonia,  lime, 
iron,  and  magnesia.  Among  the  other  reqinsite  conditions  are 
certain  alternations  of  heat  and  cold,  of  light  and  darkness, 
of  drvness  and  wetness,  due  porosity  and  compactness  of  .soil. 
Many  gardeners  vho  live  on  a  fertile  soil  and  under  a  genial 
sky,  even  in  these  days  gather  in  their  various  crops  witli  little 
thought  or  knowledge  of  the.se  energies  and  substances.  The 
sun,  the  rain,  the  .soil,  prepared  for  them  in  the  beginning, 
have  been  the  sufficient  sources  of  everjdhing  needed  for  theii' 
different  crops. 
But  most  of  our  intelligent  readers  find  that  what  in  the 
beginning  answered  well  enough  for  them  or  for  their  fore¬ 
runners  has  become  insufficient  now,  and  they  are  compelled 
to  make  inquii'y  :  M  hat  is  the  reason  that  crops  are  poor,  and 
what  can  be  done  to  the  soil  to  restore  and  increase  its  pro¬ 
ductiveness? 
The  artificial  fertiliser  commonly  sujjplies  to  the  crop 
several  .substances  vdiich  are  indispensable  to  its  make-up,  and 
which  therefore  are  adapted  to  assist  its  growth,  principally 
nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  and  potash.  With  these  lime,  mag¬ 
nesia.  and  sulphuric  acid  are  frequentiv’  associated.  The  three 
substances  fir.st-named  are  those  which,  in  general,  are  most 
1  ai e  in  the  soil  :  which,  therefore,  are  most  quicklv  exhausted, 
and  most  difficult  and  costly  to  restore. 
iiiifpi'tile  because  it  is  deficient  in  one  or  more 
of  the  ingredients  of  artificial  manures,  then  the  use  of  the 
atter  is  the  certain  and  proper  remedy.  But  the  artificial 
tertiliser  does  not  in  niost  cases  fully  restore  what  the  crop  re- 
uiores,  and  as  the  soil,  by  a  long  series  of  cropping,  has  once 
>een  i educed  to  a  comparative  infertility,  vhich  the  super¬ 
phosphate  or  potash  or  nitrate  has  relieved,  so  it  will  in  time, 
it  cropped  by  their  help  alone,  fail  again,  mainlv  because  the 
humus  matter  so  nece.ssarv  in  a  garden  soil,  which  the  artificial 
manuies  have  not  supplied,  has  been  exhausted. 
The  solar  energies  that  develop  our  plants  are  furnished  in 
the  course  of  nature  in  such  plenitude,  as  we  well  understand. 
AVe  cannot  increase  the  sunshine,  either  in  its  duration  or 
intensit.y.  AA'e  can,  however,  more  or  less  neutralise  and  nullity 
its  good  offices  by  improper  soil  culture.  The  heat  of  the  sun, 
without  which  the  soil  is  incapable  of  affording  a  genial  rooting- 
place  to  our  plants,  cannot  find  its  way  downward  to  give  due 
warmth  to  the  earth  unless  there  is  free  circulation  of  water  in 
the  soil;  nor  can  the  abundant  oxygen  of  the  air,  without  which 
no  part  of  any  plant  can  grow  or  live,  be  supplied  to  the  roots 
of  our  plants  iinle.ss  the  soil  has  a  proper  porosity  and  opennerys 
of  texture  established  and  maintained  in  it  by  judicious  culti¬ 
vation  and,  it  may  be.  by  drainage  or  other  amendment. 
It  is  true  enough  that  in  many  instances  a  few  hundred 
pounds  of  superphosphate  or  bonemeal,  nitrate  of  soda,  or  sul¬ 
phate  of  ammonia,  or  a  combination  of  them,  has  enabled  some 
soils  to  yield  better  crops  than  could  be  got  by  a  more  costly 
application  of  farmyard  manure.  This  is  plaiuly  because  the 
yard  manure  alone  could  not  supply  enough  of  nitrogen  or  of 
phosphoric  acid  or  of  potash  for  the  crop.  It  is  al.so  true  that 
in  many  ca.ses  the  commercial  fertiliser  which,  for  a  few  .year.s, 
far  outdid  the  yard  manure,  finally  fails  to  perform  the  duty 
expected  of  it  ;  and  the  stable  manure  must  be  had  recourse 
to  and  gives  satisfaction,  save  in  respect  of  the  trouble  and 
difficulty  of  getting  it.  This,  again,  is  because  the  stable 
manure'  suiiplied  something  which  the  commercial  fertiliser 
could  not. 
That  “something”  in  some  cases  is  a  sub.stance  or  kind  tf 
matter — it  may  be  lime — which,  in  the  course  of  cropping  is 
removed  from  the  soil  in  larger  quantity  than  the  artifi-ual 
manures  supply,  or  potash,  which  is  quite  wanting  in  super¬ 
phosphates;  but  in  most  cases  it  is  a  “  condition,”  a  “  texture  ” 
of  the  soil,  which  is  not  easy  to  describe,  but  which  in  the 
dunged  soil  is  recognised  as  a  mellowness  and  moistness,  so 
beneficial  to  garden  crops,  that  is  lacking  in  the  soil  to  which 
dung  has  not  been  applied. 
Many  of  the  coarse,  sandy  loams,  which  with  moderate 
dressings  of  decaying  yegetable  matter  in  shape  of  stable 
manure  or  seaweed,  has  the  texture,  feel,  and  look  of  good 
land,  and  yields  good  crops,  but  ivithout  a  supply  of  humus 
soon  becomes  har.sh  and  “  worn  out.”  A  little  of  the  spong5- 
inatter  of  rotting  manure  gives  to  soil  a  quality  ivhich  enable.s 
the  earth  to  servo  as  an  efficient  regulator  of  the  heat  and 
moisture  that  have,  or  should  have,  access  to  it. 
Reference  has  been  made  to  the  fact  that  lime  is  supplied 
to  the  land  in  small  quantity  by  superpho.sphates.  It  may  >'0 
added  that  they  furnish  lime  mo,stly  as  phosidiate  or  sulphate. 
AVe  know  that  w  hen  muriate  of  potash  and  sulphate  of  ammonia 
are  given  to  growing  crops,  the  potash  and  ammonia  are  appro¬ 
priated  by  the  plant,  while  the  acids  are  left  in  the  soil.  Now, 
that  these  acids  shall  not  accumidate  in  such  quantity  as  to 
injure  vegetation,  it  is  essential  th.at  the  soil  contain  some 
substance,  it.self  harmless,  which  .shall  take  up  and  neutralise 
the  liberated  acids.  Quicklime  is  one  of  the  best  materials  for 
this  purpose,  and  on  a  soil  wdiere  lime  is  naturally  deficient 
the  gardener  should  lose  no  opportunity  to  add  moderate  quan¬ 
tities  of  quicklime  or  pulverised  chalk  to  tho.se  soils  upon  w  hich 
he  intends  using  sulphate  of  ammonia  or  muriate  of  pota.sh. 
Again,  we  know  that  the  conveision  of  decaying  vegetable 
matter — such  as  stable  manure,  leaf  mould,  garden  refuse.  Am. 
— into  plant  food  requires  the  intervention  of  chemical  agencies 
which  shall  transform  their  inert  nitrogen  into  nitrates.  The 
natural  forces  that  do  this  work,  and  do  it  mo.st  cheaply  and 
beneficially,  are  those  of  the  microbes  which  the  most  powerful 
microscopes  just  enable  us  to  see,  oiganisms  that  feed  upon  these 
refu.se  matters  in  the  soil.  The  nitrifying  microbe,  which 
changes  inert  nitrogen  into  nitrates,  cannot  perfoiun  its  work 
in  a  soil  where  any  considerable  amount  of  free  acid  other  than 
carbonic  acid  exists,  but  works  well  and  inultii)lies  in  presence 
of  a  little  carbonate  of  lime. 
Space  is  wanting  here  to  go  further  into  this  subject,  and 
the  present  purpose  is  simply  to  illustiate  the  fact  that  the 
intei'e.sts  of  those  w  ho  buy,  as  well  as  of  those  who  .sell,  artificial 
manures  can  be  best  promoted  by  a  knowledge,  well  applied, 
of  all  the  factors  of  plant  production.  The  plant,  like  the 
man,  to  flouri.sh,  not  only  requires  an  abundant  and  varied  bill 
of  fare,  but  also  a  suitable  lodging  and  the  comforts  of  a  well 
appointed  home.  The  best  economy  of  artificial  manures  is  to 
be  attained  by  intelligently  inve.stigating  what  special  wants 
of  the  soil  or  crop  their  various  grades  are  adapted  to  meet,  aud 
what  further  wauts  of  soil  or  crop  must  be  attended  to  in  order 
to  prevent  that  impoverishment  of  soil  w  hich  otherw  ise  sooner 
or  later  is  likely  to  ensue.  The  experience  of  this  has  led  many 
gardeners  to  the  erroneous  conclusion  that  artificial  manures 
are  “  stimulants  and  not  nouri.shment,”  and  that  thev 
“exhaust  the  .soil,”  whereas  they  merely  aid  the  gardener  to 
exhaust  the  soil  by  rapidly  removing  in  the  ci’ops  sulrstances 
which  the  .soil  unaided  can  supply  but  slowly  or  insufficiently, 
and  by  impairing  or  destroying  one  or  several  of  tho.se 
conditions  wdiich  are  indispensable  to  plant  production  — 
}  J.  J.  AVillis,  Harpenden.  ^ 
