96 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



grass, so that their ground has become actually surfeited with 

 manure ; and for this reason vegetables such as cabbage, let- 

 tuce and celery do not now average as good as those grown 

 on Long Island or other districts adjacent to New York, 

 where the land is cheap enough to allow one-third to be put 

 down annually with some grass or clover crop. I believe 

 that, in a garden of fifteen acres, if one-third is laid down to 

 grass each year, and the balance kept under the plough, the 

 gross receipts will be greater and the profits more than if 

 the whole fifteen acres were under tillage ; for less labor 

 would be required, and manure tells better on sod land than 

 on land under tillage." 



While we believe this to be true, there is a belief, in the 

 country at least, that the garden should be in the same place 

 every year; and that the reason the gardeners can grow 

 better crops of vegetables than the formers is that they con- 

 tinue growing on the same ground year after yiear. 



Ordinarily speaking, manure in the market garden should 

 be ploughed in, and for such crops as cabbage, celery, beets 

 and spinach we do not consider it any advantage to have it 

 rotted down ; but, if it is necessary to use manure for grow- 

 ing such roots as carrots and parsnips, it should be fine and 

 rotten, and any manure to be used on the surface should be 

 fine. Generally speaking, w^e consider the deeper ground is 

 worked the more manure it will stand ; and I think it re- 

 quires more manure to grow a crop on land that is worked 

 very deep, ten inches or more, than on land not worked so 

 deep. Where land is good and plenty, many varieties of 

 vegetables can be grown to perfection on commercial fertil- 

 izer, and should be grown much cheaper and better than on 

 the heavily manured market-garden lands ; but to use fertilizer 

 largely in growing crops it is very desirable to have land 

 enough, so as not to be obliged to have more than one-half 

 of it under cultivation. There may be some very loose soils 

 where you can use fertilizers year after year, economically, 

 and keep the land under cultivation. 



To my mind, while fertilizer manufacturers may sell what 

 they advertise, they give the man who does not know what 

 he ought to have the best possible chance to cheat himself. 

 If it is a fact that the best grades of fertilizer are made up as 



