14 TOMATOES-TOBACCO. 



It should be pointed out that injury can be avoided in two ways: 

 First, by using sulphate of potash or sulphate of potash magnesia; 

 second, by spreading the muriate or kainit broadcast in autumn, so that 

 by spring the chlorine will have washed into the subsoil. 



Equally favorable are the results of the use of potash on sweet 

 potatoes. Attention is called to the experiments with sweet potatoes 

 at the Delaware and New Jersey Stations and at Southern Pines, N. 

 C. It does not appear that the form of potash salts had an injurious 

 effect on the quality of the sweet potatoes. 



The following may be taken as a good average potato fertilizer: 

 7 per cent, phosphoric acid, 3 per cent, nitrogen and 10 to 12 per cent, 

 potash, used at the rate of about 700 lbs. per acre. 



TOMATOES. 



Although tomatoes are a garden crop, they are grown on a large 

 scale for market and for canning. The chemical composition of the 

 tomato shows large quantities of nitrogen and potash, indicating that 

 these elements are much needed. This is verified in practice, and the 

 beneficial effects of nitrogen and potash will be seen from the results 

 of careful experiments at the Deleware and Maryland Stations. An- 

 other effect is to hasten the ripening of the fruit, while the potash 

 gives fine color and quality. 



The following is recommended for tomatoes: About 500 lbs. per 

 acre of a fertilizer containing 7 per cent, phosphoric acid and 10 per 

 cent, potash. In addition about 250 lbs. of nitrate of soda, half 

 applied as top-dressing previous to planting and the other half just 

 before fruit begins to set. , 



TOBACCO. 



As the tobacco crop exhausts about 103 lbs. of potash per acre, this 

 loss must be made good by a fertilizer rich in potash. What has been 

 said about applying potash salts to the potato, applies with even more 

 force to the tobacco plant. In order to have a leaf that has a fine 

 flavor and burns well, it is best to use sulphate of potash, and to avoid 

 using the forms of potash salts containing chlorine, such as kainit and 

 muriate of potash. Stable manure should not be applied directly to 

 the plant, but to the preceding crop. Rank organic manures, tankage, 

 fish scraps, etc., should not be used. 



