SOILS, MANURES AND FERTILIZERS
The soil must furnish the whole foundation of plant life. For centuries
those who have grown things have realized the vital importance of having
the soil rich or well supplied with plant food; and if this is important
in growing plants in the field or flower garden, where each vegetable or
flower has from one to several cubic feet of earth in which to grow, how
imperative it is to have rich soil in a pot or plant box where each
plant may have but a few cubic inches!
But the trouble is not so much in knowing that plants should be given
rich soil, as to know how to furnish it. I well remember my first
attempt at making soil rich and thinking how I would surprise my
grandmother, who worked about her plants in pots every day of her life,
and still did not have them as big as they grew in the flower garden. I
had seen the hired man put fertilizer on the garden. That was the
secret! So I got a wooden box about two-thirds full of mellow garden
earth, and filled most of the remaining space with fertilizer, well
mixed into the soil, as I had seen him fix it. I remember that my
anxiety was not that I get too much fertilizer in the soil, but that I
would take so much out of the bag that it would be missed. Great indeed
was my chagrin and disappointment, twelve hours after carefully setting
out and watering my would-be prize plants, to notice that they had
perceptibly turned yellow and wilted. And I certainly had made the soil
rich.
So the problem is by no means as simple as might at first be supposed.
Not only must sufficient plant food be added to the soil but it must be
in certain forms, and neither too much nor too little may be given if
the best results are to be attained.
Now it is a fact established beyond all dispute that not only food, but
air and water, as well, must be supplied to the roots of growing plants;
and this being the case, the _mechanical_ condition of the soil in which
the plant is to grow has a great deal to do with its success or failure.
It must be what is termed a porous and friable soil--that is, one so
light and open that water will drain through it without making it a
compact, muddy mass. One of the things I noticed about my special
fertilizer soil, mentioned above, was that it settled, after being
watered, into a solid mass from which water would not drain and into
which air could not penetrate.
It is next to impossible to find a soil just right for house plants, so,
as a general thing the only way to get a good soil is to mix it
yourself. For this purpose several ingredients are used. If you live in
a village or suburb, where the following may be procured, your problem
is not a difficult one. Take about equal parts of rotted sod, rotted
horse manure and leaf-mould from the woods and mix thoroughly and
together, adding from one-sixth to one-third, in bulk, of coarse sand.
If a considerable quantity of soil will be required during the year, it
will be well to have some place, such as a bin or large barrel, in which
to keep a supply of each ingredient. The sod should be cut three or four
inches thick, and stacked in layers with the grassy sides together,
giving an occasional soaking, if the weather is dry, to hasten rotting.
The manure should be decomposed under cover, and turned frequently at
first to prevent burning out; or sod and manure can be rotted together,
stacking them in alternate layers and forking over two or three times
after rotting has begun. The manure furnishes plant food to the compost,
the rotted sod "body," the leaf-mould water-absorbing qualities, and the
sand, drainage qualities.
If the soil is wanted at once, and no rotted sod is to be had, use good
garden loam, preferably from some spot which was under clover-sod the
year before. If it is difficult to obtain well-rotted manure, street
sweepings may be used as a substitute, and old chip-dirt from under the
wood pile, or the bottom of the woodshed if it has a dirt floor, will do
in place of leaf-mould. Peat, or thoroughly dried and sweetened muck
are also good substitutes for leaf-mould. Finely screened coal ashes may
take the place of sand.
If you live in the city, where it is difficult to obtain and to handle
the several materials mentioned, the best way is to get your soil ready
mixed at the florists, as a bushel will fill numerous pots. If you
prefer to mix it yourself, or to add any of the ingredients to the soil
you may have, most florists can supply you with light soil, sand, peat
or leaf-mould and rotted manure; and sphagnum moss, pots, saucers and
other things required for your outfit. If a large supply is wanted, it
would probably be cheaper to go to some establishment on the outskirts
of the city where things are actually grown, than to depend upon the
retail florist nearer at hand.
Potting soil when ready to use should be moist enough to be pressed into
a ball by the hand, but never so moist as not to crumble to pieces again
readily beneath the finger.
MANURES
Manure of some sort is essential to the growing of plants in pots or
boxes, both because of the plant-food it adds to the soil, and because
it improves its mechanical condition and sponginess or water-holding
quality. Thoroughly rotted horse manure or horse and cow manure mixed is
by far the best. Cow manure alone, or pig manure, is lumpy and cold,
and hen, sheep, pigeon or other special manures are not safe in the
hands of the beginner, as they are one-sided, being especially rich in
nitrogen and likely either to burn the plants or to cause too soft and
watery growth.
This brings us to the point where it is necessary to say a few words
about the theory of manures, for they are not all alike and what would
be wise to give a plant under some circumstances under others would be
quite wrong, just as you would not think of feeding beefsteak to a baby
just recovering from the colic, while it might be a very good thing for
a hungry man who was going to saw up your wood-pile.
Plants of all sorts--in pots, in the garden or in a ten-acre
lot--require three kinds of food elements: nitrogen, phosphoric acid and
potash. These elements may be fed to the plants in various forms; for
instance, the nitrogen in hen manure, or in cottonseed meal, or in salts
from the nitrate fields of Chile, known as nitrate of soda; the
phosphoric acid from bone, or from acid phosphate (a ground rock treated
with acid); the potash from wood ashes or from German potash salts
(muriate or sulphate of potash). Plants, to do their best, require that
all three elements shall be present in sufficient amounts to supply
their wants.
It is not necessary, however, to go very deeply into the science of
plant foods in order to grow plants successfully. Fortunately, manure
rotted as described above, furnishes all three elements in about the
right proportions. Cow, sheep, hen and pigeon manure are best used as
described later, under "Liquid Manuring."
FERTILIZERS
There are many brands of mixed fertilizers prepared specially for use in
the greenhouse or on plants in pots. There is a temptation to use these
on account of their convenient compact form, and because they are more
agreeable to handle. As a general rule, however, much better results
will be obtained by relying on rotted manure.
If you want to use fertilizers at all--and for certain purposes they
will be very valuable--I would advise restricting the list to the
following pure materials which are not mixed, and which are always
uniform; nitrate of soda, cottonseed meal, pure fine ground bone, and
wood ashes. (Several of the other chemicals are good, but not so
commonly used.)
Ground bone is the most valuable of these. It should be what is known as
"fine ground," or bone dust. It induces a strong but firm growth, and
can be used safely in the potting soil, supplementing the manure as a
source of plant food. From two to three quarts to a bushel of soil is
the right amount to use. It should be thoroughly mixed through the
soil. It may also be frequently used to advantage as a top dressing on
plants that have exhausted the food in their pots, or while developing
buds or blooming. Work two or three spoonfuls into the top of the soil.
Nitrate of soda is the next in importance. It is very strong and must be
carefully used, the safest way being to use it as a liquid manure, one
or two teaspoonsful dissolved in three gallons of water. If first
dissolved in a pint of hot water, and then added to the other, it will
be more quickly done. Use a pint or so of this solution in watering. The
results will often be wonderful.
Cottonseed meal may be safely mixed with the soil, like ground bone, but
requires some time in which to rot, before the plant can make use of it.
Wood ashes are also safe, and good to add to the potting soil. They help
to make a firm, hard growth, as a result of the potash they furnish.
Where plants seem to be making a too rapid, watery growth, wood ashes
may be applied to the surface and worked in.
With a soil prepared as directed in the first part of this chapter,
there will be very little need for using any other of the fertilizers,
until plants have been shifted into their last pots and have filled them
with roots. When this stage is reached the use of liquid manures as
described later will frequently be beneficial. If, however, a plant for
any reason seems backward, or slower in growth than it should be, an
application or two of nitrate of soda will often produce results almost
marvelous. Be sure, however, that your troubles are not due to some
mistake in temperature, ventilation or watering, before you ascribe them
to improper or exhausted soil.
Now, having had the patience to find out something about the conditions
under which plants ought to succeed, let us proceed to the more
interesting work of actually making them grow.