Food for Where it does not seem practicable to make the application 

 8 of Nitrate of Soda separately, then the Nitrate, in the quan- 



tity desired, may be mixed with the commercial fertilizer and 

 all applied at the same time. This practice saves labor and 

 danger of injuring the foliage, though it may result in a 

 slight loss of the Nitrate, as it should be applied long enough 

 before the plants are set to permit of its thorough distribu- 

 tion in the soil. Still, the danger of loss is not great, unless 

 the season is so extremely wet as to prevent cultivation. 



In the case of asparagus, which is a 

 Asparagus. perennial, the final results of the experi- 



ments have not yet been secured, though the experience of 

 practical growers is unanimous in favor of its use. This crop, 

 as is the case with early beets, requires heavy manuring or 

 fertilizing, or both, for the highest profit. The advantage 

 of the extra dressings of Nitrate of Soda over other forms of 

 Nitrogen lies chiefly in the fact that it may be appropriated 

 immediately, either for supplying the needs early in the sea- 

 son or to stimulate the growth of tops after cutting has 

 ceased and the crowns exhausted. Where manure is used 

 alone in liberal amounts, the top-dressing with Nitrate would 

 not be likely to be so useful an adjunct as where commercial 

 fertilizers, containing high percentages of minerals, have 

 been used, as it must be remembered here, as always, that 

 Nitrogen is not a complete food, but an element of food, and 

 cannot exert its full effect except in the presence of the neces- 

 sary supply of the mineral elements. 



In the early spring, as soon as the land is 

 fit to cultivate, the beds are ploughed or 

 Using Nitrate. cultivated, throwing the earth away from 

 the crowns, and commercial fertilizers, rich in Nitrogen 

 5 to 6 per cent. are applied, over the row, at the rate of 800 

 to 1,000 pounds per acre. The fact that asparagus is a 

 perennial, and the growth in the spring depends largely upon 

 the food stored up in the roots in the fall, the effect of the 

 spring application is not so noticeable in the early cuttings, 

 but materially benefits the later cutting. Commercial beds 

 are usually cut for about two and one-half months, and this 

 long period of continuous removal of shoots reduces the vi- 

 tality of the crowns, and because the vigor of growth and 

 size of the tops measures, to a marked degree, the size of the 

 next crop, as soon as cutting is finished from 250 to 400 



