Fcrtiiizing Land ::udcr Crop. 



will be adapted for regulating the quantity of manure 

 to be applied to all crops and on all soils. Some spe- 

 cific instructions for special cases appear in the fol- 

 lowing pages. 



Where but one crop per year is to be taken from 

 land which is already in fairly good condition, ten or 

 twelve cords per acre of well decomposed manure 

 would be considered, ordinarily, as a sufficient supply ; 

 but o\\ land to be double-cropped, twenty cords would 

 be none too much. This should be ploughed in lightly, 

 so as to be left lying near the surface. 



If the first ploughing should be done in the fall, the 

 manure can be applied then, and remain lying out on 

 the surface until spring, as it does not lose by so 

 doing. During a dry season, unless the land can be 

 properly irrigated or watered, a crop will manifestly be 

 unable to draw the proper amount of nourishment from 

 the soil, since all plant food of every description has 

 to be not merely in a soluble form but actually in solu- 

 tion before it can be taken up and assimilated by the 

 plants. For this reason it is becoming necessan,-. in 

 view of the continually recurring droughts, to provide 

 effectual means of irrigation. 



Sometimes, however, a crop comes to a stand-still by 

 reason of having exhausted all the fertilizing matter 

 contained in the soil, of a sort available to its require- 

 ments; and in such instances the trained eye of the 

 practical gardener can usually detect what is lacking 

 for the crop ; and he may supply the need by an appli- 

 cation of some specific commercial fertilizer. It would 

 be difficult to explain to a wholly unexperienced per- 



