284 Fertilizers 



is largely responsible for the sharp taste and pungent 

 flavor of the former, and the bitterness and toughened 

 fiber of the latter. The same principles hold true of early 

 table beets and turnips. The beets become stringy and 

 wiry in character, and are less palatable if during the 

 period of normal growth there has been any delay. In 

 a time during which there has been no progress the 



Fio. 26. GARDEN FERTILIZER SOWER. 



The garden fertilizer sower has the advantage of concentrating plant- 

 food in the row. This machine is very useful when several small appli- 

 cations of soluble constituents are made to young plants during the 

 growing season, because it places the plant-food within immediate reach of 

 the roots. 



fibrous portion of the vegetable is toughened, and exists 

 in too great proportion. In the case of the early tur- 

 nip, if any delay in growth occurs, the quality is in- 

 jured, and the peculiar, pleasant flavor, a characteristic 

 of the perfect vegetable, is changed ; it becomes un- 

 pleasant. The unfavorable conditions of growth seem 

 to cause more or less reversion to the character of the 

 original plant from which the improved type has been 



