Food for What Fertilizers For crops like cabbage and beets, 



ans to Us _f * or Gar ~ that it is desirable to force to rapid 

 l6 den Crops. maturity, the kind of plant food, espe- 



cially of Nitrogen, is of the greatest importance. 

 Many fertilizers sold for this purpose have all the 

 Nitrogen they contain in insoluble and unavailable 

 form, so that it requires a considerable time for the 

 plants to get it. Another fault is that they do not 

 contain nearly enough Nitrogen. Stable manure con- 

 tains on the average in one ton 10 pounds Nitrogen, 

 10 pounds potash, and only 5 pounds phosphoric acid, 

 while the average "complete" fertilizer contains more 

 than twice as much phosphoric acid as Nitrogen, a 

 most unnatural and unprofitable ration. A ratio of 

 2 Nitrogen, 4 potash, and 10 of phosphoric acid, is 

 frequent in many of the so-called "complete fertilizers," 

 which are really incomplete and unbalanced as well. A 

 fertilizer for quick-growing vegetables should contain 

 as much Nitrogen as phosphoric acid, and at least half 

 this Nitrogen should be in the form of Nitrate, which 

 is the only immediately available plant food. 



Some interesting and valuable 

 Comparative experiments were made at the Con- 



Nifrogen in necticut Experiment Station, to ascer- 



Various Forms. tain how much of the Nitrogen con- 

 tained in such materials as dried blood, 

 tankage, dry fish, and cotton-seed meal, is available 

 for plants. 



The experiments were made with corn, and it was 

 found that when the same quantity of Nitrogen was 

 applied in the various forms the crop increased over 

 that where no Nitrogen was applied, as shown in the 

 following table: 



Increase of Crop from Same Quantity of Nitrogen 

 from Different Sources. 



Relative 

 Sources of Nitrogen. Crop Increase. 



Nitrate of Soda 100 



Dried Blood 73 



Cotton-seed Meal 72 



Dry Fish 70 



Tankage 62 



Linseed Meal 78 



