Evening star., 1927-10-05
TURNS HOPELESS"
SOIL INTO PARADISE
Scientist Transforms Hard
baked Clay Into Prize
Winning Garden.

The backyard or the usual new
house in Washington is wrecker Of
dreams.
with visions of rose-wreathed arbors
and old shioned flower beds. They
find few hundred square feet from
which the top soil has been removed
probably Uttered with rusty nails and
plaster, and covered with ragweed and
pepper grass.
Nevertheless, 1t is home. TO this
precious corner of the earth they give
loving care. But for some reason or
other rose bushes die, and seeds Of an
nuals and perennials send only spin
dly growth through the brlcklike soil.
The love-nest vision fades. Disgust
and encouragement often follow the
first disappointing results.
The trouble is that the plants can
And nothing in the soil TO eat. The
ward requires intensive fertiliza ton
and fertilizer is difficult to obtain and
apply Barnya rds with their compost
piles are not handy in great city.
DR.. Turrentine's Experience.
Now the problem OF the city home
owner largely has been solved by
chemists Of the Bureau OF Soils and
Chemistry Of the Department Of Agri-
culture, who. in their search for con
centrated and powerful fertilizers for
the farmer. have experimental in tiieir
own backyards. They have found tina
the powerful stimulants which they
have concocted are adapted almost
ideally for the small city garden and
lawn
Take the case OF Or. J. w. Tur
lentine Of 4439 Cathedral avenue. Dr..
Turrentine is member OF The staff
Of the Fixed Nitrogen Research Lab
oratOry on the campus OF American
University. lie and Mrs. Turrentine
had the customary enthusia sm for
building up their own nook OF floral
beauty when they moved into their
new home last Fall.
Now. Or. Turrentine knows good
deal about soils. and as soon as he
had sunk his spade into the ground
he knew that he was face TO face
with a difficult problem 1t was about
the poorest soil possible. The con-
tractor, in building the houses on the
street had cut down the grade s
feet. so that none of the topsoil, which
would have contained considerable or
sanic ma aterial. was left. The sub
soil had almost nothing in it on which
the pla nts could feed
Friends with previous experience
were liberal with advice. Some told
him to- have 4 or S inches OF this
soil reno, ed and rich dirt from he
country hauled In to take its place.
This might easily have run into
money. Others told him that it would
be necessary 10 spade up the soil for
2 or 8 feet and mix 1t thoroughly
with orga mic matter before he could
hope to grow good flowers, or even
grass. All this was hard and costly.
DR.. Turrentine decided to follow
none of this advice. He had assisted
in compromising some of the cOncen-
trated fertilizers and decided that here
was a good chance to try them on
the dog" They would either ruin
his garden or make il.
Wins Garden Prize.
So late in March he went out with
an ordinary flower sprinkling pot and
sprinkled over the soil very lightly.
some solutions OF these fertilizers He
repeated this process once month
for the rest Of the Summer. Thu
problem was solved. There was no
III smelling stuff 10 handle. no hard
work OF hoeing and spading in. no
heavy bills for fertilizers.
Last week the annual garden in
spection was held in Wesley Heights
This one'year garden won first prize,
although 1t was pitted against gardens
four or five years in the making upon
which long hours OF back breaking
la Dor had been expended. Everythinc
was growing luxuria ntly except the
rose bed. That was a sorry sight. The
reason was that DR.. and Mrs. Turren-
tine had been especially anxious to
obtain beautiful roses and had been
afraid TO test ont the new fertilizers
on their bushes. Inst cad they followed
the customary procedure OF their
neighbors, with lamentable results.
DR.. Turrentine made use OF Ave
chemical compounds all concocted by
Depa rtment of Agriculture chemists
and now for sale by commercial deal,
ers. These were potassium am
monium sulphate, potassium aIns
monium phosphate, ammonium phos:
phate. urea phosphate and pota ssiuni
nitrate.
These all are applied at the same
time. They should be mixed thor
oughly in equal parts in the powdered
form. Then handful OF the mixture
shoull be dissolved in a gallon of
water. This should be sprinkled over
the soil about the roots Of the pls nts
very lightly. TOO much will he fatal.
The mixture ia extremely powerful.
1t is referred 10 by the Depa partment Of