142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



are going to follow oats next year, you have got to have the 

 oats early. But I don't believe that you will very much need 

 it if you put the land into hay, and clover is a prominent 

 constituent of that hay. I believe that the turning under 

 of the sod will help you out. 



Question. How much phosphate would you recommend 

 to the acre in growing a good crop of celery, how many tons ? 



Dr. VooRUEES. We have different conditions in ISTew 

 Jersey; down there all we need is sand and water besides 

 the fertilizers. We use a basic fertilizer of 5 ammonia, 6 

 available phosjjhoric acid and 8 of potash, and then dej^end 

 on top-dressing with nitrogen as nitrate. Apply a ton of 

 basic fertilizer, 1,500 pounds; put on lots of nitrogen. It is 

 astonishing what we can get with nothing but sand, as long- 

 as we supply the food to it, and have an abundance of water 

 to keep it growing. A very favorable one is where the water 

 is not far from the surface. Those are ideal spots, and we 

 have a lot of them. We use relatively little manure nowadays 

 in our market garden districts. Even on light sandy soils 

 the farmers use one ton now where they used ten before. 

 They put it on broadcast ; but they try to keep the ground 

 occupied with cover-crops, because, if Ave do not have it 

 occupied, it goes away, and we cannot hold the food in it. So 

 it is a question of necessity with us to have some organic 

 matter there. We use practically nothing but commercial 

 fertilizers. 



Question. In consideration of the fact that soils are apt 

 to grow sour under the continued use of fertilizers, would you 

 not substitute common slag and potash. 



Dr. VooEHEES. There is a general proposition that lime 

 should be applied once in four or five years, not so much 

 to neutralize acidity as to serve as a factor in improving phys- 

 ical conditions, and encouraging the development of organ- 

 ism. Acid conditions of soil bother us very little. We get 

 our acid phosphate for 80 cents a unit, or 4 cents a pound 

 for available phosphoric acid. We have grown corn crops 

 for 15 years with a fertilizer of that sort, without any lime 

 at all, and we could grow clover in it just as well. 



Professor Bkooks. As to the cost of slag meal, it has been 



