42 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 



and asked me what I thought of the "Lettuce Fertilizer" 

 that was offered in a circular that contained some fifty 

 other "specials." An inquiry developed the fact that he 

 had been keeping his Lettuce crop at a night temperature 

 of sixty-five degrees in January ten to fifteen degrees too 

 high for the welfare of the crop so that there was just 

 about as much chance of the special " Lettuce Fertilizer " 

 helping the crop as there would be of giving health to a 

 man in the last stages of consumption by feeding him 

 beef-steak. I merely mention this incident to show how, 

 and in what manner, the sellers of these special ferti- 

 lizers obtain customers, even among practical gardeners. 



LIME OR MARL. I have always held that lime and 

 marl have no direct fertilizing properties in themselves, 

 except so far as they act to correct the acidity of the soil, 

 or to lighten heavy soils, or to give adhesiveness to soils 

 that are too light. In fact, I believe they are valuable 

 for their mechanical effects on almost every soil, unless 

 such as lie along the sea coast, and in some cases a con- 

 siderable distance inland ; on such soils there is no bene- 

 fit to be derived from the application of lime. In apply- 

 ing lime dust whether from limestone or oyster shells 

 it should be put on after plowing, at the rate of not less 

 than 100 bushels per acre, and then well harrowed in, so 

 as to thoroughly mix it with the soil for four or five 

 inches below the surface. 



GAS LIME is often very liberally offered by the gas 

 companies ; it is a dangerous material and had better 

 never be touched by the market gardener. I well re- 

 member applying it to a piece of ground, which was so 

 poisoned by the noxious gases that it did not regain its 

 fertility for three years. 



COTTON-SEED MEAL, mixed with one-third of any 

 high grade of phosphate, is almost exclusively used by 

 the market gardeners of Charleston and Savannah, where 



