Rotations, Manuring and Fertilizing 63 



rate of 600 to 1200 pounds an acre. Delaware and 

 Maryland growers use 500 to 2000 pounds an acre of a 

 2-8-10, 3-7-11, 3-9-7 or 4-6-14 fertilizer during the 

 first season, sometimes followed with a spring top-dressing 

 of nitrate. Four hundred to 500 pounds are applied at 

 planting time, and an equal amount in midsummer, late 

 summer, and early the following spring. 



South Atlantic states. 



In the Norfolk district, strawberries are grown with 

 truck, and the fields are manured heavily. In addition, 

 from 1500 to 2000 pounds of high-grade complete fer- 

 tilizer are used to the acre annually. Frequently the 

 expense for fertilizing an acre is seventy-five dollars a 

 year, of which thirty-five is for manure and forty for 

 fertilizers. Only a part of this is charged to the straw- 

 berry crop, since two vegetable crops are harvested from 

 the same land in one year. Most of the fertilizer is ap- 

 plied to the companion truck crops. Poor results from 

 the use of nitrogenous fertilizers begin in North Carolina, 

 and become more acute farther south, as the distance 

 from market increases. On the sandy soils of the coastal 

 plain of North Carolina, a 3-8-10 fertilizer is used almost 

 exclusively. From 1200 to 2000 pounds are applied, 

 half in July or August, and half in December or January. 

 On the heavier soils, 500 pounds of raw bone or dissolved 

 bone are applied two or three weeks before the plants are 

 set, and again in the fall. 



Southern states. 



Very little manure is used in the South, because it 

 softens the fruit. For the same reason, nitrate of soda 

 should not be applied for three months before shipping 



