102 SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



These are the constituents that, to start with, must be in 

 the soil, and which must be kept there. This array of what 

 to many are but obscure chemicals need not cause misgiv- 

 ings, since in most instances nature has stored them in the 

 virgin soil in abundant proportions. Even in well-worn, 

 long- cultivated fields, some of them may exist in sufficient 

 quantity. Therefore, buying a special fertilizer is often like 

 carrying coals to Newcastle. Useless expenditure may be 

 incurred, also, by supplying some, but not all, of the essen- 

 tial ingredients. A farmer applied six hundred pounds of 

 superphosphate to a plat of corn-land, and three hundred 

 pounds to an adjacent plat wherein the conditions were the 

 same. The yield of the first plat was scarcely in excess of 

 that of the second, and in neither case was there a sufficient 

 increase to repay for the fertilizer. It does not follow that 

 the man used an adulterated and worthless article. Analy- 

 sis shows that corn needs nitrogen and potash in large 

 proportions; and if these had been employed with the 

 superphosphate, the result probably would have been very 

 different. Superphosphate contains nitrogen, but not in 

 sufficient degree. These considerations bring us to the 

 sound conclusion that in enriching our land it would be 

 wise to use complete fertilizers as far as possible ; that is, 

 manures containing all, or nearly all, the essential ingredi- 

 ents of the strawberry plant and fruit. If we could always 

 know just what elements are lacking in our soils, we could 

 merely supply these ; but frequent analyses are expensive, 

 and often misleading, at best. The safest plan is always to 

 keep within reach of the plants the food we know they re- 

 quire, and the roots, with unerring instinct, will attend to 

 the proportions. Hence the value of barn-yard manure in 

 the estimation of plain common-sense. A sensible writer 

 has clearly shown that from twenty- three cows and five 



