The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-10-01

into the plant until it is reduced to
the LIQUID state. Some kinds of fertil-
izers are not in this available form
till after decomposition takes place.
Barnyard manure must first rot before
the plant can use it for it is not solu-
BILE in water till after this rotting
takes place. So it is often noticed
that barnyard manure does more good
the second or third year than it does
the first. But commercial fertilizers
are generally intended for immediate
use and are in the soluble form.
Y
Another thing must be kept in mind,
and that is that no nutriment can be
carried into the plant during the win
ter time. Why? For the very simple
reason that the nutriment can only
go into the plant as water goes in;
that is, the water must carry it in
or it will not go in at all. Water can
not go into a plant through the roots,
except when the leaves are on, as the
water is evaporated into the air, eX-
cept to a very limited extent only
through the leaves. When the leaves
are on a plant it is giving off vast
amount of water by evaporation and
that causes the water to flow in
through the minute root hairs and
with this water the nutriment is car
ried. So it can be seen that if fertil-
izers are put into the ground in the
fall they must lie there till spring be-
fore the plant can use them. Well,
why not put them into the soil and
let them lie there till spring? But the
trouble, in many cases, is that they
will not lie there. Being soluble the
winter rains will dissolve them, but
that would not hurt them for, as be-
fore stated, they must be dissolved
before they enter the plant. But if
these winter rains are copious they
will wash these fertilizers away by
surface drainage or wash them so
deeply into the soil that the rootlets
of the plants can not reach them
when the leaves start up the flow of
sap as mentioned above. So it can
be seen that if we apply our fertil
iZers in the fall they may be washed
away and if they are not, they can
not be used till spring, anyhow, SO it
is far better to wait and apply them
at time when they can be of immedi-
ate use. I think friend White can see
why l recommend putting in the fertil-
izers in the spring if they are in the
available form, as most commercial
fertilizers are.
y
Before leaving this matter it may
be we'll to call attention to another
thing intimately connected with the
use of fertilizers. AS stated in a pre-
vious issue some ten or eleven diff
ferent things are necessary to the
building up of plant life, but not one
of these separately or all of them
combined can help the plant as they
exist in the state of nature. What
builds up the plant are sugar, starch
and allied substances, commonly
known as proteids, fats and carbohy-
drates, and yet not one of these exists
in the state of nature. Then how does
the plant get them? 1t makes them.
How? By changing the elements of
nutrition into these plant foods.
Where? In the leaves. The elements
of fertility coming into the plant in
the liquid form through the roots meet
the carbon deoXide and oxygen COM
ing in from the atmosphere through
the pores on the under side of the
leaves, and there, in the leaves, are
changed into starch, sugar, etc., which
alone can build up and nourish the
plant. This change of these sub
stances in the leaves could not take
place without the green principle of