252 Fertilizers 



that the date of picking was made earlier by virtue of the 

 nitrate, for, in fact, the earliest tomatoes were picked upon 

 land where the minerals only had been applied. Here the 

 yield was not satisfactory, but where the nitrate was 

 applied, because of the larger crop, a larger proportion of 

 early tomatoes was secured. It is obvious that, inasmuch 

 as the price of the fruit rapidly declines as the season ad- 

 vances, receipts from the proportionately larger quantity 

 of early fruit will be materially increased. 



The use of fertilizers with yard manures. 



When it is desirable to use yard manures with fertilizers 

 for tomatoes, because of the abundance and cheapness 

 of the former, they should be applied broadcast, and the 

 nitrate applied at the time of planting, as already described, 

 rather than both together in the hill. The tendency in 

 the latter case will be to cause a loss of nitrogen from the 

 nitrate, depending upon the amount of organic matter 

 in the manures. That is, experiments and experience 

 have shown that under these circumstances more or less 

 of the nitrogen in the nitrate may be lost. 



In the use of yard manures for early tomatoes, the ap- 

 plication of excessive quantities should be avoided, as 

 they are virtually nitrogenous manures, which, because 

 of their organic character, feed the plant in proportion 

 to their rate of decay. Hence, the presence of large quan- 

 tities will encourage not only an undue growth of plant, 

 but a late growth as well. The mineral fertilizers, as 

 acid phosphate and muriate of potash, can be used with 

 the yard manures with perfect safety, in fact, with great 

 advantage, because they supplement the proportionate 

 lack of mineral constituents. It is also desirable, where 

 it is the practice to use manure, particularly if it is coarse, 



