FERTILIZING STRAWBERRIES 



down and will become sufficiently mixed with the soil through 

 the cultivation of the crop to answer every purpose. During 

 the second producing year the same treatment is advisable. 

 The experience of practical growers indicates that even on 

 the best soils, as much as 1,000 pounds of a mixture similar 

 to the above, can be used, and on thin soils as much as 2,000 

 pounds in the course of the three-year period under discussion. 

 Some may prefer to apply the fertilizer on the basis of 

 a formula containing definite percentages of plant food. In 

 that event a mixture containing 



Potash - - - 9 to 10% 



Phosphoric acid, 6 to 8% 



Nitrogen - - 2 to 3% 



is advised, the rate of application per acre being the same. 

 The higher percentages should be used on thin or sandy 

 lands, and the lower percentages on the heavier and loamier 

 soils. Those who desire to use sulfate of ammonia as a 

 source of nitrogen, will probably find it well to lime their 

 lands at the rate of one ton per acre, using the raw ground 

 rock for this purpose. The lime should, of course, be put 

 on some time in advance of applying the fertilizer. The 

 farmer who depends on yard manure or a green crop, plowed 

 under, as the sole source of his fertilizer, will be disappointed 

 in the yield obtained from his strawberry bed, for even if he 

 apply as much as ten tons per acre of manure which has not 

 been exposed to the weather, he will only furnish the soil about 

 100 pounds of nitrogen, 70 pounds of phosphoric acid and 



14 



