FERTILIZERS 1/ 



In the culture of field crops where the net returns 

 to the acre are small, heavy applications of fertil- 

 izers would not prove profitable. Where intensive 

 cultivation is practiced, it is found profitable, owing 

 to the greater returns to the acre, to supply large 

 quantities of fertilizing materials. The celery plant 

 is a gross feeder, and there is perhaps no other crop 

 that will give so large a return for the liberal use 

 of fertilizers. 



Chemical Elements Required in Fertilizers. — 

 Many of the chemical elements of the soil required 

 by plants are abundantly supplied by nature, but 

 nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium are 

 often deficient or if present in sufficient quantities 

 are not in an available form. The character and 

 composition of soils are so variable it would be 

 impossible to give a formula for a celery fertilizer 

 that would meet all requirements. Such being 

 the case, all that can be given in a work of this kind 

 is to describe the mixtures used by successful grow- 

 ers, and show wherein lies the fertilizing values of 

 the ingredients of these mixtures. 



Sources of Nitrogen. — The celery plant, from its 

 nature of growth, requires an abundance of nitro- 

 gen. The principal sources of nitrogen for use as 

 fertilizers are barnyard or stable manure, nitrate 

 of soda, sulphate of ammonia, dried blood, meat 

 scrap or meat meal, tankage, dried fish, fish scrap, 

 cottonseed meal, bone meal, and nitrogenous 

 guanos. Nitrogen from different sources does not 

 give equal results ; for instance, that contained in 

 nitrate of soda, fish scrap, and the nitrogenous 



