100 The Principles of Vegetable- Gardening 



harrowing it in. On ordinary soils, very little of it will 

 be lost by leaching. Nitrates are most likely to leach. 

 They are soluble and pass down quickly. Therefore, 

 nitrate of soda and sulfate of ammonia should not 

 be applied much in advance of the planting. With 

 annual crops, fertilizer should not be applied much, if 

 any, in advance of the planting : the fertilizer is needed 

 near the surface, and it should be quickly available. 



There is much discussion whether fertilizer should 

 be applied broadcast or in the hill, which proves that 

 both methods are right. If one wants to enrich his 

 land, or to afford sustenance to the plant throughout its 

 growing season, apply broadcast. If one wants to use 

 fertilizer to start the plant off and to maintain it until 

 it gets a firm hold on the soil, apply in the hill. A 

 most important use of commercial fertilizer in vege- 

 table-gardening is to hasten the plant in the begin- 

 ning. It is kindling-wood to start the blaze. 



The only way to determine what fertilizers to use 

 is to try. On a small plot each year the gardener 

 should experiment with fertilizers as he does with 

 varieties. The fertilizer question is largely a local 

 and special problem. 



The following directions given by the College of Agriculture 

 of Cornell University, for the making of cooperative fertilizer 

 experiments, will suggest to the farmer how he may experiment : 



The field should be plowed before the plats are laid out. 

 Then use good, substantial stakes at the corners of the plats, 

 and mark them in such a way that the plats will not become 

 mixed, thereby avoiding confusion. It would be well to leave a 

 space of four feet between each two plats in order to be sure 

 that the plants on one plat cannot feed on the other plats. 



