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BULLETIN 412 



price and the fall-payment price. The difference in these two prices is 

 usually 50 cents per thousand. This amount would be interest at the rate 

 of i6f per cent a year if the cash price were $6 per thousand and the 

 difference in date of payments were six months. There is, of course, 

 some risk of the grower not being able to collect for the plants in the 

 fall. In calculating costs when growers used their own plants, the plants 

 were charged at the price that would have been paid for plants of a similar 

 quality. No expenses incurred in raising the plants were included in 

 the costs. 



Fertilizer 



Fertilizer was an important item in the cost of producing tomatoes. 

 The extent to which fertilizer was used in the different areas is shown 

 in table 46. Of the 133 farms, 123 used fertilizer on tomatoes. The 

 heaviest applications were made in the Chautauqua area. 



TABLE 46. USE OF FERTILIZER ON TOMATOES IN 1920 



The kinds and quantities of fertilizer used are shown in table 47. Acid 

 phosphate, which made up about 25 per cent of the total fertilizer, was 

 used more than any other kind. The balance was mainly a variety of 

 kinds of mixed fertilizers. A considerable number of these were fairly 

 high in nitrogen and potash as well as in phosphorus. 



TABLE 47. KINDS AND QUANTITIES OF FERTILIZER USED ON THE 123 FARMS USING 

 FERTILIZER ON TOMATOES IN 1920 



* The numbers used to designate the kinds of fertilizer refer to the percentages of the three constituents, 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, in the fertilizer: for example, a 1-8-2 fertilizer contains i per cent 

 of nitrogen (N), 8 per cent of phosphoric acid (PjOi), and 2 per cent of potash (KtO). 



