FERTILIZERS 



FERTILIZERS 



1225 



rich in available nitrogen. This fertilizer should 

 usually be applied at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 pounds 

 an acre at the time of setting, and in the later years 

 just after picking the crop of fruit, fertilizer may be 

 scattered in a furrow turned away from each side of 

 the bed, after which the furrow may be turned back 

 again. Early each spring fertilizer should be applied 

 broadcast over the beds. This should contain liberal 

 quantities of soluble phosphoric acid and potash but 

 only enough nitrogen to promote reasonable growth. 

 This nitrogen should, however, be largely in readily 

 soluble and available form. If too much nitrogen is 

 used in the spring the fruit will lack color, and it may 

 be soft and unsatisfactory, especially for distant ship- 

 ment. It may even be necessary to omit all nitrogen 

 in the spring, if the soil is exceptionally rich in humus 

 or has been well manured previously. This can only 

 be decided by the observant grow'er. 



On many soils superphosphate is preferable to basic 

 slag meal as a source of phosphoric acid for straw- 

 berries, for the reason that too much lime is to be 

 avoided, and furthermore, the phosphoric acid is 

 largely soluble and better adapted to top-dressing. On 

 an exceedingly acid soil the use of basic slag meal may- 

 be permissible for application at the time of setting, 

 for the action of the soil aids in rendering it available 

 to the plants. 



Grapes. 



Grapes may show some gain from the use of lime 

 under certain circumstances, but they do not require 

 it in even approximately the same degree as the cherry, 

 plum, currant, and gooseberrj'. The chief need of this 

 crop is available phosphoric acid and potash. If 

 nitrogen is used, the quantity must be carefully regu- 

 lated, and in Europe slow-acting forms of organic 

 nitrogen are in special favor. Basic slag meal or bone- 

 meal may be used as sources of phosphoric acid when 

 the grapes are set, but later, superphosphate is to be 

 preferred, especially if it is not most thoroughly worked 

 into the soil. Sulfate of potash is often considered 

 preferable to the muriate of potash for grapes, for it is 

 alleged to give a better quality of fruit. 



Quinces. 



The quince responds to liming in about the same 

 degree as the cherry and plum. It should receive enough 

 nitrogen to insure reasonable growth, but no more; 

 and on exhausted soils a moderate amount of available 

 phosphate and muriate or sulfate of potash will be 

 helpful. 



Cranberries. 



The cranberry thrives better at the outset, even on 

 certain very acid soils, than after its acidity has been 

 lessened by liming. If more nitrogen is needed than 

 that naturallj- available from the humus of the bog, 

 it is usually recommended that it be applied in small 

 quantities, as nitrate of soda or preferably as nitrate 

 of potash, provided the bog is already fairly dry and 

 is hkely to remain so; but if wet, suKate of ammonia 

 may be better The chief need of the cranberry vine 

 is usually phosphoric acid and potash. The phosphoric 

 acid for top-dressing may be in superphosphate, but 

 if apphed just before the plants are set one may 

 employ bone-meal, or, if on very acid peat or muck 

 soil, even raw rock phosphate. 



In case spring applications of fertilizer are made, it 

 must not be expected that they will always affect the 

 cranberry yield of that particular season as much as the 

 yield of the crop which follows. Such applications 

 should ordinarily be made after the water is drawn 

 off and the land has dried out to a reasonable extent. 

 It is often helpful to apply fertihzer just after the cran- 

 berry crop is harvested, but late spring applications 

 develop stronger vines for the next season. 



Pineapples. 



The requirements of the pineapple crop varj' widely, 

 dependent upon the rainfall and soil conditions. Where 

 the winter season is likely to be fairly cold, nitrogenous 

 fertilizers should not be applied in the autumn, for 

 otherwise injury from frost may follow. Neverthe- 

 less, potash salts have sometimes been used at that 

 time wath good effect. On certain acid soils, liming is 

 necessary at fairly frequent intervals in order to bring 

 out the best effect of superphosphates. If lime is not 

 used, bone-meal or basic slag meal may sometimes be 

 preferable to superphosphate as sources of phosphoric 

 acid. From one and three-fourths to two tons of fcr- 

 tUizer an acre, annually, have been recommended for 

 pineapples by the Agricultural Experiment Station 

 of Florida. It is said that the fertilizer should con- 

 tain 5 per cent of nitrogen, 4 per cent of available 

 phosphoric acid and 10 per cent of potash. La order to 

 meet the conditions in that state. Diu-ing the first 

 year and a half the applications of fertilizer are made 

 four times a year, but after this period of time is passed, 

 the first application of the year is made either in Feb- 

 ruary or March, and the second after cutting the sum- 

 mer crop. It is obvious that this rule might require 

 modifications on other soil and also as influenced by 

 different climatic or other local conditions. 



Table beets, mangels, sugar beets and Swiss chard. 



These plants are among the vegetables most in need 

 of liming. Certain of them also have much greater 

 ability than the cabbage and turnip to appropriate 

 from the soil the required supply of phosphoric acid, 

 for beets have been found to yield fair crops where 

 cabbage plants, on account of a lack of available 

 phosphates, failed to develop salable heads. 



These plants are able to profit to a considerable 

 extent, as concerns physiological functions, by the 

 soda of nitrate of soda, provided the supply of potash 

 is insufficient, yet it is unw'ise to limit the supply of 

 potash intentionally, in order to bring out this action, 

 for if this is done the net loss in crop due to insufficient 

 potash may more than offset the advantage of attempting 

 to make the soda fully effective. 



All of these plants and many others take up, in vary- 

 ing degrees, considerable more mineral matter than is 

 represented by the sum of the minimum requirements, 

 as determined for each essential ingredient in the 

 presence of an abundance of all of the others. If, there- 

 fore, the fertilizer contains soda, it will be taken up in 

 considerable amounts by the plant to satisfy this "lux- 

 m-y" or "excess" consumption in conjunction with 

 the potash physiologically necessary to the plant. Thus 

 the extra potash which would otherwise be taken up 

 to satisfy this excess in the mineral requirement is 

 conserved in the soil for future crops. The use of 

 nitrate of soda, therefore, as one of the ingredients of 

 a fertilizer for these crops, results in insuring the crop 

 against a shortage of potash and prevents the plants 

 from taking up an unnecessary excess of potash, pro- 

 vided an abundance is already present in the soil or is 

 supplied in the fertilizer. 



In Europe, beets of all kinds, and especially mangels, 

 have been found to respond very favorably to nitrate 

 of soda in comparison with the results with sulfate of 

 ammonia, yet with certain cereals the yields, under 

 similar conditions, have been larger with the latter. 

 Notwithstanding this favorable action of nitrate of 

 soda on the.se crops, it is so subject to loss by leaching 

 that it is often better on very open soils to use it in 

 conjunction with several other forms of nitrogen, 

 rather than alone. This is especially true in conse- 

 quence of the frequent occurrence, in certain sections 

 of the country, of very sandy and gravelly soils and 

 especially in view of the long period of growth of the 

 chard, sugar-beets and mangels. 



These crops all require generous supplies of nitre- 



