FERTILIZERS. 9o 



in order to prevent destroying the seed, to mix thoroughly 

 with the soil before planting ; using the top of a cedar-tree 

 to which a stone has been tied, dragging it along through 

 the furrow, or a brush barn-broom, or even a hoe if care- 

 fully dragged. With extra care in mixing for crops such 

 as corn, the whole of the fertilizer might be used in the 

 furrows or hill ; but no good farmer would, as a rule, raise 

 his crop in that way. With potatoes, fertilizers are some- 

 times successfully applied by first covering the potato with 

 an inch of earth, and then sowing it, finishing by covering 

 the seed to the usual depth. A portion can be applied to 

 the corn-crop after it is up ; but in such cases it must be 

 cultivated under, or the plant will get but little benefit 

 from it. 



In using these formulas, if you live near a good market, 

 your vegetable crop will bring more than it otherwise 

 would ; while your land, and probably your labor-bill, will 

 be higher than it would be back in the country, and -the 

 cost of the fertilizer will be as cheap or cheaper. Such 

 being the case, it would be wise to use the larger quantity 

 named, and to experiment a little to ascertain whether or 

 not, under your exceptional circumstances, it might not 

 pay you even to increase this. Fertilizers, as has been 

 said, do not respond so well on soil that has been heavily 

 enriched with barn and other manures for a series of years. 

 On very rich truck-farms, some fertilizers, even when lib- 

 erally applied, have but little effect. In such cases the 

 ground is already heavily stocked with the surplus left 

 over by many manurings, and will sometimes yield full 

 crops without help from any manure whatever ; but usually 

 nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, guano, or bone will 

 give good paying returns, even on such soil. I have 

 made use of the above formulas, with excellent results, on 

 crops of potatoes, corn, pease, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, 



