FERTII<IZERS AND FERTILIZING 73 



agus sedlions. The objedtions made against stable 

 manure are that it is more expensive to handle, that it 

 is apt to get the land full of weeds, and that it does 

 not contain sufficient phosphoric acid and potash. At 

 present many growers use commercial fertilizers exclu- 

 sively, convinced that asparagus needs liberal feeding 

 of potash and more nitrogen than is generally sup- 

 posed to be required. 



The composition of 1,000 parts of fresh asparagus 

 sprouts is, according to Wolff: 



Water 933 parts 



Nitrogen 3.2 " 



Ash 5.0 " 



Potash 1.2 " 



Soda 0.9 ■' 



Lime 0.6 " 



Magnesia 0.2 " 



Phosphoric acid 0.9 " 



Sulphuric acid 0.3 " 



Silica 0.5 " 



Chlorine 0.3 " 



This analysis shows very accurately what a given 

 weight of asparagus abstracts from the soil, but it does 

 not, and can not, show or even indicate certain indis- 

 pensable demands. In this, as in other cases, the 

 analysis of a crop is a very uncertain guide to its 

 proper fertilization. It should be clearly understood 

 by every cultivator of the soil that no rigidly fixed 

 formulas can be given for any one crop on all soils. 

 The question of quantity of application and of pro- 

 portion must always, in the very nature of the case, 

 remain more or less a matter of individual experi- 



