FERTILIZERS WITH TOMATOES. 53 



rich, the plants will not be likely to need the liquid manure 

 in their young or maiden stage, but as soon as the melons 

 or tomatoes are set the fertilizing will usually be appre- 

 ciated. It is then sometimes profitable to apply it freely 

 once or twice a week. 



There is very little exact knowledge respecting the use 

 of chemical fertilizers for forcing-house crops. The best 

 gardeners generally like to add bone flour or some com- 

 mercial fertilizer to soils which have not already been 

 well fertilized, and it is a common practice to work a 

 dressing of bone into the soil after the plants become 

 well established. 



The Connecticut experiments with tomatoes. The best 

 experiments which have been made in this country upon 

 fertilizers for forced vegetables were conducted at the Con- 

 necticut Experiment Station.* These experiments were 

 concerned with tomatoes and lettuce under glass. A full 

 abstract of these studies, so far as they give direct horti- 

 cultural results, will be useful and suggestive to the gar- 

 dener and the student. 



"To those who are raising or contemplate raising 

 winter crops under glass, the question of substituting fer- 

 tilizers for manure, in part at least, is a very important 

 one. Forcing-house soil, as it is usually prepared, con- 

 sists of rich garden soil or rotted turf, composted with 

 from one-fourth to one-half its bulk of horse manure. 

 Aside from the labor of hauling and of repeatedly work- 

 ing over this material to secure the fine mellow condition 

 which is desired, the cost formerly was not great. But 

 the general introduction of electric cars has cut down 

 enormously the production of horse manure in cities, 

 which has been the main dependence of our market 

 gardeners. In consequence, the preparation of suitable 



*E. H. Jenkins and W. E. Britton in Nineteenth Rep. Conn. Agr. 

 Exp. Sta. (for 1895), pp. 75-98. The reader may also find experiments 

 upon forcing-house fertilizers in Bull. 10 (1890) and 15 (1891) of the 

 Mass. Hatch Exp. Sta., and in Bull. 43 (1892) of the Ohio Station. 



