Farm and Garden.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 440, 15 September 1904, Page 2

Farm and Garden.

ORIGINAL ARTICLES. FERTILIZERS. STEMMED bone meal is valued far the phosphorous it contains, but in some parts it is sold on the basis of phosphoric acid. That is perhaps more confusing and more absurd than ammonia. Phosphoric acid is not contained in bone meal, and phosphoric acid is not suitable for plant food, and people do not mean phosphoric acid when they say so in connection with fertilizers. What they do mean is phosphoric oxide, a compound of phosphorous and oxygen containing less than forty-four per cent, of the element phosphorous—the real thing wanted to purchase. Even phosphoric oxide is not contained in bono meal, and that compound would not be a suitable form of phosphorous for plant food. Good steamed bono meal contains about twelve and a half per cent, of phosphorous, or two hundred and fifty pounds of phosphorous in a ton. That is a valuable element of plant food, and is oasily understood both by the farmer and fertilizer dealer or manufacturer. Potassium is a valuable element of plant food. Ordinary potassium chloride contains about forty-two per cent, of that element, or about eight hundred and forty pounds in a ton of material. That is direct and simple and easily understood. Then again we may consider the material potassium chloride as a compound of the two elements potassium and chlorine, containing in the common market grade about forty-two per cent, of the element potassium, and is sometimes sold under the incorrect and confusing name of muriate of potash, and it is sold on the basis of potash, the term muriate would indicate that this material contains oxygen ; but that is' not true, as it contains only potassium and chlorine. Potash is a compound of potassium and oxygen useful in making soaps, but not suitable for plant food. But ordinary potassium chloride, containing about fortytwo per cent, of that element, is a valuable food. Furthermore, we have frequently set forth in these papers the value of lime to growing crops, more especially in some districts where there is a natural deficiency, and later on we will again revert to that materia] in a separate article. TEA~ This plant—shrub or bush—seems to have been known to and used extensively by the Chinese at a very ancient period ; and, although it is but littlo more than two hundred years since it was introduced to Europeans, its use is now almost universal. Its importation employs a large capital and numerous shipping, and so important is this article reckoned that its fall or rise in price is looked upon with anxiety by the poorest individual. A great outcry was raised on its first introduction regarding its supposed injurious effects on the human constitution, ysfc, since its introduction, men and women have lived, and multiplied, and died, much in same way as previously. Although its use in excess may often have been found deleterious, yet its general effect on the health and habits of the community may rather perhaps be estimated as beneficial than the reverse. The tea shrub grows well from the' Clarence river northwards, and may be seen growing in gardens in all sorts of soils, yet for all that very few make their own tea because they have erroneous ideas that there is something very difficult or mysterious regarding its mode of preparation. It may be raised from seed without difficulty, or plants may be purchased in Sydney or Brisbane. The tea plant is a small shrub; when full grown about three feet high, branched, and covered with a rough, dark, gray bark. The leaves and blossoms aro not very unlike the common hawthorn. The leaves are elliptical or lanceolate, entire, alternate, obtusely serrated, veined, and placed on snort footstalks. The calyx is small, smooth, persistent, and divided into five obtuse segments. The flowers are white or pinkish white and have a pleasant odour, and often two or three blossoms together on separate stalks, and placed at the axilla of the leaves. The corolla in one sort has five petals, in another the petals are more numerous. The filaments are very numerous, short, and inserted at the base of the corolla. The anthers are large and yellow, the germen roundish or triangular, the capsule three-celled containing three oblong brown seeds. All the various teas are derived from the same" botanical species, and the different flavour and appearance depend the nature of the soil, the culture, and the method of preparing the leaves. Modern botanists have abolished the genus thea and placed it under the camelia genus, and it is curious that the Chinese have done the same without any knowledge of the sexual system. The tea plant is indigenous to China and Japan, and from observation there seems to succeed best on the sides of mountains. The plants are raised from seeds, which are deposited in rows four or five feet apart. The plant will grow in either low or elevated situations, but always thrives best and furnishes leaves of the finest quality when produced in light stony ground. The leaves are gathered from one to four times during the year, according to the age of the tree.