104 The Principles of Vegetable- Gardening 



showed that a little nitrate of soda is better than much 

 for tomatoes ; also, that a given quantity applied all at 

 once early in the season is better than the same quan- 

 tity applied at intervals, for in the latter case it pro- 

 moted growth too late and the fruits did not ripen. 

 For the person who has studied the subject and his 

 soil, it is preferable to buy the elements in the form 

 of high-grade chemicals and to apply each by itself. 

 He can then apply little or much of any element to 

 this place or to that, as he thinks best. Good com- 

 mercial sources of nitrogen are nitrate of soda and 

 sulfate of ammonia ; of potash, muriate of potash and 

 unleached wood ashes ; of phosphoric acid, bone com- 

 pounds and fossil phosphates (as South Carolina and 

 Florida rocks) . Of nitrate of soda, 150 to 300 pounds 

 to the acre is a good application ; of muriate of potash, 

 from 200 to 400 pounds ; of treated South Carolina 

 rock, from 200 to 400 pounds. 



Voorhees (^^ Fertilizers,'^ p. 267) recommends the 

 following basic formula" for market- garden crops: 



Nitrogen 4 per cent 



Phosphoric acid 8 



Potash 10 



^^For market -garden crops, a fertilizer of the above 

 composition may be regarded as a basic mixture, which 

 may be applied to all of the crops, leaving the specific 

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

 ings, or applications of the other constituents. The 

 fertilizer ingredients, nitrogen and phosphoric acid, 

 should preferably consist of the different forms, rather 



