Soils and Fertilizers for Vegetables 1291) 



Furthermore, on account of location and ability to produce early 

 crops, soils of low natural fertility are often the ones best adapted 

 to trucking purposes. Principles regarding the maintenance of 

 fertility in connection with vegetable growing are not radically 

 different from those applicable in general farming ; but considera- 

 tions of earliness, quality and price of crop, together with pecul- 

 iarities of soil, make necessary the more extended and special use 

 of fertilizers. The maintenance of organic matter is here as every- 

 where of prime importance, and the nse of any amount of high- 

 priced easily soluble plant food will not make up for a lack of it. 

 If chemical fertilizers alone are depended upon, the tendency is 

 for it to require more and more of them each year to produce the 

 same results, and a condition may soon be reached where their cost 

 will equal or exceed the profit from their use. 



The principles of crop rotation are also, from a fertility point 

 of view, just as important in connection with vegetable growing as 

 in general farming. It is much more difficult to maintain satis- 

 factory yields when any one crop is grown continuously on the 

 same land than if it is grown in a systematic rotation with other 

 crops. However, special demands may sometimes make it advisable 

 to sacrifice something in yield for the sake of specializing in a 

 certain crop. 



Manures and Green Manures 



In the vicinities of cities stable manure is very largely depended 

 upon to keep up fertility. Where this can be had in liberal 

 amounts no chemicals may be needed and no other provisions made 

 for keeping up organic matter. Yet very often a phosphorus 

 fertilizer will be profitable in addition to manure and will help 

 produce a better quality of crop and earlier maturity. Where 

 manure is used only in moderate quantities phosphorus should 

 always be used with it at the rate of 300 to 1000 pounds per 

 acre of acid phosphate. On muck soils some potash will be needed 

 in addition, and with market-garden crops on any soil both nitrogen 

 and potash may be needed as mentioned later on. The use of 

 manure can be overdone on some crops, such as potatoes, and in 

 other cases it may induce too much vegetable growth or late ma- 

 turity. The remedy, then, is less manure and more phosphoric 

 acid and potash ; but with the scarcity of manure its too liberal 



