GARDEN FERTILISERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 302, 19 November 1938, Page 14

GARDEN FERTILISERS.

The many women who take a pride in their gardens will find the following iiiformatiou about fertilisers of great practical value: — Both bonedust and bone manure (which are two distinct fertilisers) are excellent phosphate manures for flower garden use. It is well to remember, however, that agricultural experts generally consider this is an expensive way to buy phosphate, since it is their opinion that mineral superphosphate does the same work at a great saving in cost. Lime before manuring should he the invariable rule. It is desirable to apply it to the ground some weeks before the manure. They should never be put in together. Potash is specially necessary to the development of starch and sugar-pro-ducing plants. Potatoes, beets, and all kinds of fruit trees cannot thrive without it. Well-cultivated garden soil rarely lacks potash; but it needs lime to unlock the potash for use. Lime or chalk dressings should be given to garden plots before applying potash, since the latter is valuable only when the soil contains the constituents necessary for converting the commercial potash into carbonate of potash.