12 



NORFOLK TRUCKING 



are used they are usually ground to a sharp edge on one side 

 and a short handle five or six inches is provided. With im- 

 plements of this kind, it usually costs from four to eight dol- 

 lars an acre to thin the spinach. 



Immediately after thinning the spinach, it is given an ap- 

 plication of about five hundred pounds of commercial fertili- 

 zer analyzing seven to eight per cent, nitrogen, five to seven 

 per cent, phosphoric acid, two to four per cent, potash. The 

 nitrogen used should be in a readily available form. Some 

 growers prefer to mix their own fertilizers. Where they do 

 so, one-third of the nitrogen is obtained from nitrate of soda, 

 one-third from high grade blood, and the balance from fish. 

 This fertilizer is distributed broadcast over the beds and 

 worked into the ground with a wheel hoe or by means of the 

 Cyclone cultivator. The frequency with which the top dress- 

 ings are made depends upon the fertility of the land and the 

 weather conditions. In the early fall five hundred pounds 

 of the above fertilizer will sometimes push a crop to harvest- 

 ing time, but the latter crops, when the weather is more unfav- 

 orable, are usually given two or three, and on rare occasions 

 four applications of the above fertilizer. The object is to 

 provide the plants with an abundance of readily available 

 plant food so that they may use it whenever the weather con- 

 ditions are favorable. 



Spinach grows best cn a slightly alkaline soil, hence it is 

 customary to apply one thousand pounds of lime per acre im- 

 mediately before planting the spinach. The lime is worked 

 into the ground as the beds are formed. The first applica- 

 tion of fertilizer is not made until three or four weeks after 

 the lime is applied. 



In harvesting the spinach, it is customary to cut the entire 

 plant just above the ground. All brown or discolored leaves 

 are carefully removed before packing into the barrels. Ven- 

 tilated barrels are always used for marketing spinach, kale 

 and other green crops. These barrels are made from a cheap 

 grade of lumber. An acre of good spinach will produce from 

 two hundred to three hundred barrels, sometimes the yield 

 will be as high as three hundred and fifty, but some farmers 

 are unable to get over one hundred and fifty barrels per acre. 



