306 Fertilizers 



may be practiced with advantage. Where cotton-seed 

 meal may be secured at a reasonable price, it may be used 

 instead of fish. This mixture should be supplemented by 

 top-dressings of nitrate of soda whenever the plants show 

 that more nitrogen is needed. Care should be taken to 

 work the nitrate of soda into the soil immediately after 

 the application is made. The basic formula (page 287) 

 used at the rate of 800 to 1000 pounds to the acre and 

 supplemented by top-dressings of nitrate of soda may be 

 used with good results if more convenient. 



Okra. 



The production of okra is increasing, especially in the 

 canning sections, where it is grown extensively and the 

 pods prepared for soup. It requires a warm and fertile 

 soil. Because okra is grown for pods while still green and 

 which must be crisp and tender, an early and vigorous 

 growth of leaf and stem is required. The best practice is 

 to use no less than 1000 pounds of a high-grade mixture 

 deriving a large part of its nitrogen from nitrate of soda, 

 and the remainder from quickly available forms, as blood, 

 fish, cotton-seed meal and tankage. Because it continues 

 its growth late in fall, tankage, which is less available 

 than the other materials, is valuable. The minerals should 

 be present in the soil in abundance. Stable manure is 

 desirable because it improves the mechanical texture of 

 the soil, as well as to supply plant-food. 



CONDIMENTAL OR SWEET HERBS 



There is a large number of sweet herbs common to 

 European gardeners but of little commercial importance 

 in this country. It is not uncommon, however, to find 



