118 . GENERAL ADVICE 



back to the surface. It is important that large 

 lumps of fertilizer, especially muriate of potash 

 and nitrate of soda, do not fall near the crowns 

 of the plants; otherwise the plants may be seri- 

 ously injured. It is a general principle, also, that 

 it is better to apply sparingly of fertilizers and 

 liberally of tillage. The tendency is to make fer- 

 tilizers do penance for the sins of neglect, but the 

 results do not often meet one's expectations. 



If one has only a small garden or a home yard, 

 it will ordinarily not pay him to buy the chemicals 

 separately, as recommended above, but he can buy 

 some complete fertilizer which is sold under a 

 trademark or brand, and which has a guaranteed 

 analysis. If one is raising plants chiefly for their 

 foliage, as rhubarb and ornamental bushes, he 

 should select a fertilizer comparatively rich in 

 nitrogen ; but if he desires chiefly fruit and 

 flowers, the mineral elements, as potash, and 

 phosphoric acid, should be high. If one uses the 

 chemicals, it is not necessary that they be mixed 

 before application; in fact, it is usually better 

 not to mix them, because some plants and some 

 soils need more of one element than of another. 

 Just what materials, and how much, different soils 

 and plants require, must be determined by the 

 grower himself by observation and experiment, 

 but the above hints may suggest the problems to 

 be considered. 



Muriate of potash costs forty dollars and up- 



