Food for cannot exert its full effect except in the presence of the neces- 

 ^° ^ sary supply of the mineral elements. 

 ^^4 M th d f "'■" ^^^ early spring, as soon as the land is 



„ . ^. fit to cultivate, the beds are ploughed or 



cultivated, throwing the earth away from 

 the crowns, and commercial fertilizers, rich in Nitrogen — 

 5 to 6 per cent. — are applied, over the row, at the rate of 8oo 

 to 1,000 pounds per acre. The fact that asparagus is a 

 perennial, and the growth in the spring depends largely upon 

 the food stored up in the roots in the fall, the effect of the 

 spring application is not so noticeable in the early cuttings, 

 but materially benefits the later cutting. Commercial beds 

 are usually cut for about two and one-half months, and this 

 long period of continuous removal of shoots reduces the 

 vitality of the crowns, and because the vigor of growth and 

 size of the tops measures, to a marked degree, the size of the 

 next crop, as soon as cutting is finished from 250 to 400 

 pounds per acre of Nitrate of Soda should be applied. The 

 roots immediately absorb this available form of Nitrogen, 

 which stimulates and strengthens the plant, and enables it to 

 appropriate the excess of minerals which have been applied, 

 and, as a consequence, a large, vigorous and healthy growth 

 of top is made, which not only results in storing the food 

 in the roots for use the next season, but it enables the plant 

 to resist the ravages of the rust. There is no other form of 

 Nitrogen that can be used or other means by which this 

 object can be so readily accomplished as by a liberal supply 

 of Nitrate of Soda, and the result is, not only a larger yield, 

 but a greater proportion of large shoots, which increases the 

 market value of the crop; the growers who practice this 

 system have no difficulty in contracting their entire crop 

 from year to year at very remunerative prices. 



T, , T, ^ A careful study of the special needs of plants 



Early Tomatoes. , 1 1 • 1 1 



shows that there is no other one crop that 



responds more favorably to the use of immediately available 

 Nitrogen than early tomatoes. The influence of the use of 

 Nitrate is not only shown in the increase in the yield — in 

 some cases practically doubling it — but in the improved 

 quality of crop, and because of the larger crop an increased 

 maturity is virtually secured. These are all points of ex- 

 treme practical importance. The results of all the experi- 

 ments conducted in different parts of the country and in 



