28 How THE FARM PAYS. 



but in every case the material to mix the fertilizers with must be 

 fairly dry and never in a condition cf mud; the meaning of the opera- 

 tion being, that the material used is to act as a temporary absorbent 

 for the fertilizer. The compost must be thoroughly mixed, and if 

 guano is used, it being sometimes lumpy, it must be broken up to 

 dust before being mixed with the absorbent. 



The main object of this operation is for the better separation and 

 division of the fertilizer, so that when applied to the soil it can be 

 more readily distributed. Our experiments have repeatedly shown 

 that this method of using concentrated fertilizers materially increases 

 their value, probably twenty per cent. The mixing should be done 

 a few months previous to spring, and it should, after being mixed, 

 be packed away in barrels, and kept in some dry shed or cellar until 

 wanted for use. Thus mixed, it is particularly beneficial on lawns or 

 other grass lands. The quantity of concentrated fertilizer to be used 

 is often perplexing to beginners. We give the following as the best 

 rules we know, all derived from our own practice in growing fruits, 

 flowers and vegetables. 



Taking guano as a basis, we would recommend for all vegetable or 

 fruit crops, if earliness and good quality are desired, the use of not 

 loss than 1,200 pounds per acre (an acre contains 4,840 square yards, 

 and cultivators for private use can easily estimate from this the 

 quantity they require for any area), mixed with tfro tons of either of 

 the materials before recommended. Of bone dust about one ton per 

 acre should be used, mixed with three tons of soil or the other 

 materials named. 



For market garden vegetable crops, in the vicinity of New York, 

 this quantity of guano or bone dust is harrowed in after twenty-five 

 or thirty tons of stable manure have first been plowed in; sj that the 

 actual cost of manuring each acre is not less than $100, and often $150. 



When fertilizers are used alone, without being mixed with the ab- 

 sorbent, they should be sown on the soil after plowing or digging, 

 about thick enough to just color the surface, or about as thick as 

 sand or sawdust is sown on a floor, and then thoroughly harrowed in, 

 if plowed, or, if dug, chopped in with a rake. This quantity is used 

 broadcast by sowing on the ground after plowing, and deeply and 

 thoroughly harrowing in, or, if in small gardens, forked in lightly 

 with the prongs of a garden fork or long-toothed steel rake. When 

 applied in hills or drills, from 100 to 300 pounds should be used to 

 the acre, according to the distance of these apart, mixing with soil, 

 etc., as already directed. 



When well rotted stable manure is procurable at a cost not to 

 exceed $3 per ton, delivered on the ground, whether from horses or 



