1300 The Vegetable Industry in New York State 



use is perhaps not frequent. In intense cropping where two or 

 three crops are grown on the same land in one season, 20 to 40 

 tons per acre per year would not be considered excessive. 



Green manures. — The use of green-manure crops is applicable 

 where vegetables are grown on an extensive scale. Vetch, rape, 

 cow-peas, clover or some other quick-growing crop, preferably a 

 legume, may be sown after the vegetable crop is off and plowed 

 under late that fall or the following spring. Under so many 

 different conditions of climate and cropping it is a local problem 

 as to what arrangement of this kind can be made. 



Commercial Fertilizers for Sandy and Loam Soils 

 In planning commercial fertilizers for vegetable crops perhaps 

 the three most important factors to consider are (1) the value of 

 the crop per acre, (2) whether early market garden or staple 

 truck crops are grown, (3) condition of soil, especially as regards 

 organic matter. Variations in soil types commonly used for vege- 

 tables do not play such an important part in determining fertiliza- 

 tion, excepting in extreme cases, as comparing muck with sandy 

 and loam soils. 



Nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash are usually all three 

 profitable in any fertilizer mixture for any kind of vegetable. 

 The proportion in which they should be used will vary mainly 

 with the kind of vegetable and amount of organic matter in the 

 soil ; and the total amount of fertilizer that can profitably be used 

 will vary principally with the value of the crop per acre and with 

 the condition of the soil. 



Suppose that on a certain soil an application of twenty dollars' 

 worth per acre of fertilizer will produce a 20 per cent, increase in 

 yield of some crop. If this crop as fertilized has a market value 

 of $75 per acre, the fertilizer application will have been made at 

 a loss, and the amount of fertilizer might have to be cut down to 

 five dollars' worth per acre before it w r ould pay. On the other hand, 

 if the crop should have a market value of say $300 per acre the 

 heavy application of fertilizer would have been made at a good 

 profit. There is reason to believe that in common practice the 

 amount of fertilizers applied in vegetable growing is often too 

 high for greatest net profit. In some experiments in potato grow- 



