Soilless Gardening : A Complete Guide

SOILLESS GARDENING by W. F. GERICKE PUTNAM LONDON 42 Great Russell Street, W. C. I. THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY W1FK WHOSE UNFALTERING FAITH IN THE ULTIMATE REALIZATION OF CROP PRO DUCTION WITHOUT SOIL WAS A GREAT HELP IN ESTABLISHING HYDROPONICS. HYDROPONICS was really the second name to be applied to the science of soilless gardening. The first was aquicul ture, chosen because of its analogy to agriculture. Later it was found that this word had already been used in another connection and so could not be employed again. Hydro ponics was then selected because of its parallel relationship with geoponics, the Greek word meaning earth working, or, literally, agriculture. Hydroponics can now be carried on without restriction by anyone who desires to do so. But scientific research on the sub ject must be safeguarded, the public must be protected from exploitation, and business interests must assume the responsi bility for the development of the science. My own wishes are that research and educational institutions shall profit from the growth of hydroponics, that I shall be free to conduct research and teach the new subject, without being responsible for busi ness development except in an advisory capacity where this is needed. Those private individuals who gave of their private funds to test the validity of new ideas, and who provided the laboratory of practice wherein the dross of impracticability was removed from the hydroponic theory, have earned the utmost considera tion. They deserve the right to be consulted before any publi cation is made of results obtained in their plants. It is a pleasure to acknowledge here the cooperation and aid given the development of hydroponics by the establishment of plants by Vetterle and Reinelt, Frank L. Lyons and E. W. Brundin, the California Packing Corporation, George O. Brehm, Martha Jane Dawson, Carl Gericke, Max B. Miller, Donald French, Pan American Airways, Inc., and E. O. Freund. vii viii Preface I am indebted to the Paraf