14 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



into that task. Here it is that Art steps in, that "Art which is 

 itself Nature," and begins to supplement the natural foods 

 of the soil, and thus add to its efficacy. This reasoning suggests 

 that at first the feeding must be very tentative, increasing 

 only as the rapid production of trusses increases the demand. 

 As yet, strong stimulants such as nitrates must not be used, 

 for these volatile foods have other objectives than the swelling 

 of the fruit. Rushing into the foliage and to the extremities 

 of the plant, they force what is not now our principal object 

 growth and that often at the expense of fruit. Have we not 



PIG. 6. A Good Truss on a Fed Plant 



seen them, when unwisely used, force growth at such a pace as 

 to prevent the development of trusses beyond the incipient stage ? 

 The safest method for the first feeding is by a thin top dressing 

 of rich soil in which the " golden tripod," phosphates, potash, 

 and nitrogen, are fairly balanced in rigidly controlled quantities 

 and proportions. After the third truss has set, there comes the 

 demand for another fillip, and this is usually administered in 

 the form of a spoonful per plant of concentrated manures, such 

 as guano, fertiliser or some approved and complete proprietary 

 preparation, followed a little later by what we consider the 

 principal top dressing, 2 inches thick, of rich compost specially 



