Holding and Increasing Fertility of Soil 



ply this element to the garden, as it is obtained in 

 several forms — raw bone, coarsely ground, fine 

 ground and bone meal. One may by applying two 

 or more grades secure the fertility of the garden 

 for several years as raw bone decays slowly and 

 will give results for a period of four years while 

 bone meal is immediately available. Potash is 

 most economically supplied by applications of 

 wood ashes. But it must be borne in mind that 

 the use of commercial fertilizers is not intended 

 to rej^lace that of barnyard manure, but rather 

 to supplement it until the soil has regained what 

 it has lost by poor management. Commercial 

 fertilizers will of themselves produce a crop, but 

 it is at the expense of the after-fertility of the 

 land, just as the application of the whip will spur 

 a jaded horse to one more final effort. Liberal 

 applications of manure, leaf mould or muck and 

 bone meal will bring any land that has soil at all, 

 up to a satisfactory condition of fertility in a 

 very few j-ears. 



Nor is it necessary to go far afield for the 

 humus for so small a piece of land as a kitchen 

 garden for the material for the finest kind of 



75 



