FERTILIZERS 103 



Fertilizers. Soil is productive when it has 



good physical texture, plant- food, and a sufficient supply of 

 moisture. Even though it has an abundance of plant-food, 

 if its texture is not good, it will not raise a good crop. 

 Soil has good texture when it is open, mellow, friable, 

 rather than loose and leachy, or hard and cloddy. Commer- 

 cial Fertilizers add plant-food, but usually they have only a 

 small influence in correcting faulty texture. Therefore, 

 before concentrated Fertilizers are applied to land, it should 

 be gotten into good physical condition by judicious tillage 

 and by the incorporation of vegetable mold or humus. The 

 leading source of humus in most gardens is stable manure. 

 See Manure. 



The plant-food in commercial Fertilizers is largely in a 

 soluble or quickly available condition. Therefore, a little 

 Fertilizer applied late in the fall or early in the spring will 

 tend to start the plants off quickly in the spring and to 

 cause them to become established before the trying weather 

 of summer. For garden purposes, it is usually advisable to 

 buy one of the so-called complete Fertilizers; that is, one 

 which contains nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid. If a 

 l uxuriant growth of stalk and foliage is wanted rather than 

 flowers or fruit, an application of nitrogen alone is usually 

 advisable. The most readily available nitrogen in commer- 

 cial form is that which is afforded by nitrate of soda and 

 sulfate of ammonia. In garden practice this may be ap- 

 plied at the rate of 300 to 400 pounds an acre, although this 

 quantity is more than is profitable to use in most general 

 field or agricultural conditions. If it is desired to have 

 stout, stocky plants, with early and profuse bloom, it is 

 ordinarily advisable to use somewhat sparingly of nitrogen 

 and to use a little more heavily of potash and phosphoric 

 acid. This is especially true of the leguminous plants, 

 which have the power of appropriating atmospheric nitro- 

 gen, and among such plants are sweet peas. Heavy ferti- 

 lizing of sweet pea land with strong stable manure tends to 



