Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-02-28
GARDEN FERTILIZER
GERMAN POTASH
Third Lecture of Series By Prof.
S. B. Shaw
PHOSPHATE ALWAYS NEEDED
On Heavy Soil Put ALI Your Fine
Sifted Coal Ashes Sod Turned !
Under Likely To Need Lime.

The third lecture in the series by
the State College experts for Annapo-
lis home gardeners was given last
Thursday by Prof S. b. Shaw On the
subject of FERTILIZERS for the Gar
den"
He first showed that plants need a
balanced ration, nitrogen TO make
growth of leaves, potash for the
stems, stalks and other structural
parts, and phosphate for the flowers,
fruit and seeds.
A former standard fertilizer would
contain per cent nitrogen. per
cent potash and per cent phosphate
The price is now too high Formerly
the nitrogen was the most costly in
gredient but now it is the potash.
The present prohibitive price of pot
ash has caused alarm to many The
regular former supplw was from Ger
many American supplies are being
developed, but cannot yet furnish the
amounts desired
Although potash is essential to
plant growth it is not always neces-
sary to buy it. In fact most of our
soil has enough potash already and it
only needs proper cultivation TO make
it available for plant food.
Our fathers made good crops with
out artificial addition of potash and
for few years we can do likewise.
IN fact, much of the belief that we
must have potash at any price, Prof.
Shaw attributed to long continued
official German propaganda. The
country was flooded with matter ad-
vertising this "all-important' Ger
man commodity. This year, unless
we have a supply of wood ashes, we
must get along without potash, but it
is a prospect which need not alarm
us.
Despite long years of cultivation,
potash has not been drawn much from
our land. Usually it is the seed or
fruit which is sold while the stalk,
containing the potash, has gone back
to the land to rot and supply the soil
again. The phosphate which has
gone to make seed has often been seri-
ously depleted by long years of sue
cessive money crops of corn and
wheat
Nitrogen, needed for leaf growth,
can best be supplied by growing and
turning under legumes, such as COW
peas. All bean crops need no sup
ply of nitrogen except the air from
which they obtain it directly.
Phosphate is nearly always need
ed. The gardener should ask for 16
per cent acid phosphote, in preference
to the IA per cent phosphate.
For plot 90 feet by 90 feet good
unit of measure for the garden, 100
pounds of stable manure and pounds
of acid phosphate make a splendid
fertilizer Another formula is 10
pounds of poultry manure, z pounds
wood ashes and 3 pounds phosphate
One can hardly inure land by too
much stable manure, but one can by
too much poultry manure, so measure
the latter carefully.
Sun and air promote bacterial de-
composition of organic matter and
also help render phosphate available
for the plants. Lime also helps make
phosphate available and it also cor
rects acidity in land Sod turned
under is likely to be sour and need
lime.
On heavy soil put all your fine sift-
ed coal ashes 1t contains some lime,
but no plant food, but it does improve
the texture, mechanically making the
soil more porous. This is what it
needs and clay will take up great
quantity of coal ashes to advantage.