BULLETINS OP THE ELEVENTH CENSUS. 463 



FEKTILIZEKS. 



As the largest and finest vegetables can only be grown upon land in a 

 very high state of cultivation, and maturity is also hastened by liberal 

 feeding, the question of fertilization is one to which the truck farmer has 

 had to pay close attention, especially at the east and south, where the soil 

 is not as fertile as at the west and on the Pacific coast. Market gardeners 

 near cities and towns absorb nearly the full supply of stable manure, and 

 as stock feeding is not carried on to any considerable extent in connection 

 with truck farming, commercial manures are necessarily the main depend- 

 ence of the truck farmer, especially at the south. In the intelligent use of 

 these manures farmers have been greatly aided by the agricultural experi- 

 ment stations established in the various states. Special manures are now 

 compounded for feeding the various crops. Potatoes and other root crops 

 are supplied with a fertilizer rich in potash and phosphoric acid and only 

 a moderate supply of nitrogen, while foliage crops, notably cabbage, celery 

 and spinach, are given a fertilizer very rich in nitrogen and a smaller 

 proportion of the other essential elements of plant food. 



The principal raw materials used in the manufacture of special manures 

 are as follows: 



First. Containing nitrogen as the chief valuable ingredient: nitrate of soda, sul- 

 phate of ammonia, dried blood, cotton-seed meal, castor pomace, dried fish, dried flesh. 



Second. Containing phosphoric acid as the chief valuable ingredient: dissolved 

 bone black, phosphatic guano, acid phosphate (rock), dissolved raw bone, ground raw 

 bone. 



Third. Containing potash as the chief valuable ingredient: high-grade sulphate of 

 potash, muriate of potash, kainit (cotton-hull ashes.) 



Fourth. Containing nitrogen and phosphoric acid: bone manure, tankage, dry 

 ground fish scrap. 



The work of agricultural experiment stations, and the frequent popular 

 bulletins issued by them and by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, have materially aided the truck farmer to a more intelligent 

 understanding of the question of plant food and plant feeding, so that now 

 on many large truck farms there are mills and machinery for the home 

 mixing of fertilizers, the raw materials being bought in carload lots and 

 any required mixture made to supply the demands of various soils and 

 crops. However, more than 80 per cent, of the commercial manures used 

 are purchased by truckers all mixed and ready for immediate use. An 

 application of 1,500 pounds per acre on each of the 407,130 acres of truck 

 farms of the east and south of a fertilizer costing on an average $30 per 

 ton absorbed $9,160,425 of truck farm money in 1889. 



In the New England and New York and Philadelphia districts very 

 liberal manuring is practiced, while at the south but a comparatively small 

 quantity of manure is used. In the central west, whatever food has to be 

 furnished the soil and plants is mostly supplied by stable manure. The 

 Mountain and Pacific Coast districts report using so little manure that it 

 has not been possible at this time to arrive at any average of cost; in fact, 

 it can almost be said that for the present they require little or no manure 

 on most of the lands to produce satisfactory crops, especially when there 

 is an abundance of water for irrigation. 



The cost per acre of fertilizers for the leading varieties of vegetable is 

 given in the following table, the figures being based upon special reports 

 received from leading truck farmers in the various districts: 



