I 4 4 



Commercial Gardening 



of soil each year naturally vary a good deal, according to the nature of 

 the crop. It will be seen from the table below that some crops absorb 

 much larger quantities of certain foods than others, and this fact should 

 be borne in mind when applying manures. 



TABLE SHOWING IN BOUND NUMBERS THE QUANTITIES OF NITROGEN, PHOS- 

 PHORIC ACID, AND POTASH TAKEN OUT OF AN ACRE OF SOIL BY 

 VARIOUS CROPS' 



It will thus be seen that such crops as Mangels, Turnips, Beans, Red 

 Clover, and Hops absorb large supplies of nitrogen from the soil; and 

 Mangels, Turnips, Beet, and Hops also drain the soil of large quantities 

 of potash. It is noteworthy that such leguminous crops as Beans and 

 Clover should take up such large quantities of nitrogen, notwithstanding 

 the power they possess of fixing the nitrogen of the atmosphere (p. 127). 



The figures for the crops marked with an asterisk are taken from 

 Professor S. W. Fletcher's book on Soils, and relate to analyses at the 

 Michigan Agricultural College. It would appear that according to the 

 climate, and no doubt the methods of cultivation, the quantities of food 

 taken from the soil would vary very much. 



