HORTICULTURIST

In- the production of this crop of cabbage Mr. W. MV. Grant, of Blenheim, used 3300 lbs. of bone
rneal in the spring and 500 1bs. of 4-0-7 fertilizer after the crop was, established. Note article
on page 6.
A Balanced Ration in the Orchard and Garden
F. J. A. Sheppard, St. Catharines, Ont.

FROM a nuinber of years exper-
ience I am convinced that the
average fruit and vegetable grow-
er does not pay sufficient attention to
the balancing of his fertilizer materials.
Often tinies large quantities of stable
manure and mixed fertilizer fail to
give their best results, siniply because
the different plant foods contained in
them are not properly apportioned or
balanced.    We know    that there are
three essential plant foods which all-
our trees and plants require, namely,
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash,
and we are also taught to believe that
a surplus of one of these three in the
fertilizer -ration will not make up for
a deficiency of another.     Therefore,
to obtain the maximum      results from
one fertilizer we must have the proper
proportion of each of the three essen-
tials to supply the need of the crop we
are growing.     The majority of our
farners are alive to the great benefit
to be derived fron feeding a' "Bal-
anced Ration" to their live stock, but
when it eoies to feeding our trees,
vines and plants, I fear very little at-
tention is given to the balancing of the
fertilizer ration. Stable manure is the
besit single fertilizer we can get, and
most of us are unable to get too much;
but I claim that our stable manure
might be made to go a lot further and
to give us greater returns if it was sup-
plemented with some mineral fertilizer
to balance it up.
Stable manure is rich in nitrogen and
nitrogen plays the principal part in
promioting growth, but without phos-
phoric acid and potash to balance it
up, the growth is so soft that the plant
or tree will break down before it has
matured its. crop. Most. of our grain
.erops and fruit trees require a larger

percentage of phosphoric acid than is
contained in manure. My experience
has been that a conmbination of stable
manure and commercial fertilizer is
better than  either alone, and that
where stable manure is used an extra
dressing of phosphoric acid in the
shape of acid phosphate or bone meal,
added at the rate of from 300 to 500
lbs. per acre, will show marked results.
As phosphoric acid is an important
factor in the early maturing of a crop,
growers handling crops, the early rip-
ening of which is an object, will be
benefited by using a fertilizer high in
phosphoric acid or 'by applying an ex-
tra dressing of 16 per cent acid 'phos-
phate to the growing crop.
Two Crops that Paid
Grant S. Peart, Burlington, Ont.
In 1918 I planted 2,000 tomato plants
of the Bonny Best variety. At the time
of planting, a large handful of acid
phosphate (16/% available) was scattered
directly aroimd the roots, 400 lbs. being
applied to the 2,000 plants. The soil
was gravelly loam and on the previous
season had been an old strawberry bed,
heavily manured, and plowed down in
the fall of 1917. From these 2,000
plants I harvested a total crop of 2,130
baskets and 52 bushels of ripe tomatoes,
which were marketed. The quality of
the product was excellent.
One quarter of an acre of sweet corn,
variety Cook Special, was fertilized with
acid phosphate. The corn was planted
May 28th. On August 18th I had har-
vested the crop of green corn and mar-
keted 510 dozen. There were just 82
days, including the date of seeding and
the final date of harvesting. I believe
that the yield obtained with the toma-

March, 1919.

toes and the early maturity of the corn
was due to the acid phosphate appli-
cation.
Lime as a Fertilizer*
Prof. R. Harcourt, Guelph, Ont.
IN the discussion of this subject the first
consideration is the plant itself.
What we need is something to feed
the plant.  In the consideration of plant
food there are only four constituents we
need pay attention to, namely, nitrogen,
phosphoric acid, potash, and lime. A
very large quantity of nitrogen is pre-
sent in the air and one of our problems
is getting that nitrogen from the air to
the plant.
There is a great deal of difference in
plants. They differ in the range of their
roots, some plants obtaining this sus-
tenance from the surface, and others
from lower down. Plants also differ in
the time when they make their growth
and in getting their supplies from what
is in the soil.  You must understand
your plant.
Then there is the question of soil. In
the analysis of soils it has been found
that most soils contain a large amount
of plant food, such as nitrogen, potash,
and phosphoric acid. But the real
problem we have to solve is how much of
that food can we get available for the
plant. Plants take their food in the
form of a solution. So there may be
plenty of food in the soil, but if it is not
available for the plant it is of no value to
the plant. What is it, then, which
makes the food available ? The great
agency is decaying organic matter. If
we allow thdt to be depleted we prevent
being made available what is there.
Hastening decay looses organic matter,
and in the process acids are formed
which bring potash, phosphoric acid,
etc., into available forms. Lime assists
in these processes, but the tendency of
lime in soils that have been cultivated
for any length of time is to go down
below the surface and when we test the
lower soil we find it contains plenty of
lime for the plants, but the soil on the
surface does not.
Hardly any soil in the Niagara Penin-
sula has enough lime on the surface to
produce all crops ; it has been carried
down by carbon-dioxide. The first and
most important substance to obtain for
our soil is barnyard manure, but of that
we cannot procure enough, and in buying
fertilizer we must know what our plants
particularly need. Of the three chief
substances, nitrogen, phosphoric acid,
and potash, nitrogen is what gives a
strong stem and leaf growth ; phos-
phoric acid gives early maturity, and
potash enables starch-growing plants to
get their proper growth.
*A report of an address given by Prof. R. Harcourt at
the recent annual meeting of the Niagara Peninsula Fruit
Growers' Association, held in Grimsby, Ont.

THE CANADIAN


'7 -4