The Basic Formula 



383 



("Fertilizers," 2nd edition, 286) defines a basic formula 

 as " one containing large quantities of all the best forms of 

 plant-food to be used as a base for supplying market-gar- 

 den crops with their general needs, with the idea that 

 amendments may be made of nitrogen, or of other con- 

 stituents, as the conditions seem to require " ; and he con- 

 tinued : " apply a reasonable excess of all the essential fer- 

 tilizer constituents to all of the crops." He recommends 

 " a good basic fertilizer for market-garden crops " as 

 follows : 



Nitrate of soda 250 lb. 



Ammonium sulfate 100 lb. 



Dried blood 150 lb. 



Acid phosphate, 16% A. P. A. . . . 1000 lb. 

 Sulfate of potash 400 lb. 



A mixture of these materials of standard quality would 

 show an average composition of 4 per cent nitrogen,' 8 

 per cent phosphoric acid and 10 per cent potash. Such 

 a mixture is an excellent basic formula for such crops as 

 asparagus, cucumbers, onions, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, 

 eggplant, melons, peppers, squashes and the like, but any 

 mixture of the composition 4-8-10 which supplies the 

 plant-food constituents in good forms may be used as a 

 basic formula for all market-garden crops, leaving the 

 specific needs of the different plants to be met by top- 

 dressings, or applications of the other constitutents. The 

 fertilizer ingredients, nitrogen and phosphoric acid, .should 

 preferably consist of the different forms, rather than to be 

 all of one form, though the cost of the element will natu- 

 rally regulate this point to some extent. That is, a part 

 of the nitrogen should be nitrate or ammonia, and a part 

 organic; a part of the phosphoric acid should be soluble 



