New Yoke Agricultural Experiment Station. 489 



Table IX. — Commercial Fertilizers vs. Stable Manure for Lettuce 



Forcing. 



Excellent lettuce was produced on the sandy loam with, com- 

 mercial fertilizers instead of stable manure. See Soil 8. In firm- 

 ness, texture and general appearance it surpassed the lettuce which 

 was grown on the sandy loam with stable manure instead of the 

 commercial fertilizers. See Soil 15. Plate XL VI shows an average 

 head of lettuce from each of these soils. On Soil 15 the lettuce 

 was badly injured by tip-burn, while on Soil 8 it was practically 

 free from the tip-burn, but it suffered somewhat from rot {Botrytis), 

 more so, in fact, than did the lettuce on Soil 1.~>. S 



With the clay loam the results were quite the opposite of those 

 which were obtained with the sandy loam. On Soil 16, where 

 stable manure was used instead of commercial fertiizers, the let- 

 tuce was larger, firmer, much better in appearance and about 13 

 days earlier than it was on Soil 7, which received commercial 



* Acid phosphate 600 lbs. per acre, sulphate of potash 400 lbs. per acre, and 

 nitrate of soda 366 lbs. per acre. 



t No commercfal fertilizers used. 



8 Mr. Wright Rives, who forces lettuce extensively near Washington, D. C, 

 states in a letter to the writer, " I have tried nitrate of soda several times 

 and it has always produced bad results, as it keeps the ground on top and 

 under the lettuce damp, which is fatal, as it produces rot. For lettuce the 

 soil must be such that it will dry quickly on top but keep moist below. I 

 make my soil of 2% to 3 parts of sod to 1 of manure and to this I add about 

 one-third of bank sand." 



