Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1901 — SCIENCE AND PROGRESS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SCIENCE AND PROGRESS

Fmrtiliming Apparatus.

Among all the numerous devices schemes to induce plants to grow, the idea which we illustrate below is probably a novelty, and it is not unlikely that it will serve its purpose to some advantage in the forcing of shrubbery, plants, etc. The inventor is Gardner M. Sherman of Massachusetts, and he claims that the arrangement is not only of great utility and value In accelerating the growth of plants by giving them with the utmost directness the most suitable fertilising ingredients which they are known to require, but in experimenting, in series modifying or varying the constituents employed with a view to the observation and comparison of the results. The dsvioe is a hollow, porous receptable, with a vertical tube at the top. The devloe

is buried when the plant is set out, leaving the end of the tube exposed above the surface of the earth. Then the ingredients of the fertilizer are mixed and poured In through the tube, being absorbed through the porous vessel by the roots of the plant In this manner the roots and eventually the whole shrub are stimulated and made to mature rapidly. It would seem that erven an application of warm water at intervals would be of advantage, in that it would warm the ground and moisten it at the same time, which could not help but stimulate plant growth.

PROVIDES FOOD FOR PLANT ROOTS.