THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



lime. Without the lime the soluble potash leaches 

 out rapidly. 



I have described these different fertilising ele- 

 ments at some length in order that if the reader 

 desires to mix his own fertilisers he will know what 

 each contains. Unless one uses only a small quan- 

 tity of these commercial fertilisers it is a distinct 

 advantage in point of cost to do the mixing at 

 home rather than to buy the ready-mixed materials. 

 Not only is it necessary to pay the manufacturer 

 for mixing them, but you also pay freight on 

 earth, which is always added to these ready-made 

 fertilisers as fillers. Another distinct advantage of 

 home-mixed fertilisers is that the ingredients can 

 be varied according to the needs of plants grown 

 and the condition of the soil. 



For an average soil, on which the ordinary gar- 

 den crops beets, cabbage, cucumbers, celery, to- 

 matoes, etc. are being grown, a fertiliser com- 

 pounded as follows will give good results: 



Nitrate of soda 50 pounds 



Sulphate of ammonia 100 pounds 



Dried blood 150 pounds 



Acid phosphate 550 pounds 



Muriate of potash 150 pounds 



[42] 



