Feeding the Land 



207 



than we give to it. In other words, we must keep 

 it up to a working strength, with a surplus of 

 resource ever on hand.' 



It is entirely practicable for the fruit-grower, 

 by a comparison of commercial fertilizers, to deter- 

 mine those most economical for his purposes. 

 Because a fertilizer is cheap by the ton, as for 

 example Kainit, it may not be so cheap as a more 

 expensive kind which contains a larger proportion 

 of an ingredient sought. Kainit is not so valuable 

 as a potash food, as any farm manure. A ton of 

 muriate of potash is as valuable, for potash, as four 

 tons of Kainit. Common salt has many virtues on 

 the fruit-farm, and is used by some vineyardists 

 as a fertilizer. Experience does not support their 

 claim of its value as a plant-food. Farm manure is 

 worth more than any known commercial fertilizer 



^ The Amounts of Fertilizer Ingredients — Potash, Phosphoric Acid, 

 Nitrogen — Contained in the Crop from One Acre of Land: 



