Professor W. W. Massey, of the North Carolina Experi- ^^^d f&r- 

 ment Station, writes as follows: 



"In the spring of 1888 I top-dressed an old strawberry bed, in its fifth 

 year of bearing, with 300 pounds of Nitrate of Soda per acre. I had intended 

 to plow it up the previous summer, but other matters prevented, and the becS 

 was in an exhausted condition and rather foul with white clover and sorrel. 

 The effect was amazing, for this bed of an acre and a quarter, from which 

 I expected hardly anything, gave me 7,000 quarts of berries : Variety 

 Crescent with fertilizing rows of Wilson, Sharpless and others. I he crop 

 was nearly as large as the best plot had made." 



Enormous profits may be derived from 

 the proper use of fertilizers on asparagus. ^ ^ 



If the rent, labor, etc., for a crop of asparagus is ^200 

 per acre, and the crop is three tons of green shoots at ^100 per 

 ton, on the farm, the profit is $100 per acre. If we get six 

 tons at $100 per ton, the profit, less the extra cost of labor 

 and manure, is ^400 per acre. 



In such crops as asparagus, however, doubling the yield 

 by the use of Nitrate of Soda does not tell half the story. 



Asparagus is sold by the bunch, weighing about 2^ 

 pounds. The prices range, according to earliness anJ 

 quality, from 10 cents to 25 cents per bunch at wholesale^ 

 or from $80 to $200 per ton. 



Bv leaving out all these considerations and assuming 



that the non-Nitrated asparagus yields three tons per acre 



and sells for $100 per ton, and that the Nitrated asparagus 



yields six tons per acre and sells for $200 per ton, the profits 



of the two crops, less the extra cost for labor and manure,. 



are as follows: 



Without Nitrate of Soda $ 100 per acre. 



With Nitrate of Soda 1,000 per acre. 



The first thing to do is to prepare the gow to Mix and 

 fertilizers, and if they are all to be used at Ar,r,iv Nitrate of 

 the same time mix them together. Soda and Other 



Nitrate of Soda comes from South pgrtilizers 

 America in 224-pound bags, and is usually ' 

 thus sold. The Nitrate looks much like coarse salt. The 

 lumps should be broken, which can easily be done by turning 

 the Nitrate out on the barn floor and breaking with the 

 back of a spade. The Nitrate should then be run through 

 a sieve with a mesh not larger than one-fourth inch. It will 

 then be ready for use. 



Plants 



19 



