228 City Homes on Country Lanes 



Many gardeners experience difficulty in obtaining 

 supplies of well-rotted manure. In such cases, com- 

 mercial fertilizers should be used. Even when stable 

 manure has been secured and worked into the soil, it 

 is well to supplement with moderate quantities of quick- 

 acting fertilizer, in order to give plants an early start, 

 and hasten maturity. 



It is safest to rely upon the ready-mixed fertilizers, 

 usually obtainable at seed and hardware stores. Sev- 

 eral specially prepared mixtures in convenient packages 

 are now on the market. For large areas 100 to 200- 

 pound bags may be obtained. A mixture containing 

 from 3 to 4 per cent nitrogen, and from 8 to 10 per 

 cent phosphoric acid is about right for the average gar- 

 den. Your dealer will inform you on this point. If the 

 fertilizer also contains potash, so much the better. 



Where no manure is used the fertilizer should be 

 spread over the surface of the finely prepared seed-bed 

 at the rate of 5 pounds for a plot 10-feet square, just 

 before planting. The surface soil should then be thor- 

 oughly raked, so as to mix the fertilizer evenly to a 

 depth of 2 inches. Never place seeds or transplanted 

 plants in direct contact with fertilizer. Thorough mix- 

 ing of the fertilizer with the soil is essential to prevent 

 injury to seed or roots. Where manure has been worked 

 into the soil, reduce the fertilizer application one-half. 



Tomatoes, egg-plants, spinach, and some other crops 

 requiring long growing seasons, arc materially benefited 

 l>v a second application of fertilizer when half grown. 

 Side dressings of this kind should be scattered between 

 the rows at the rate of four ounces (one-half pint) to 

 ten feet of row, when rows are spaced two feet apart, 



