FERTILIZERS FOR VEGETABLES 



mixed fertilizer, it is better to apply from one-third to one- 

 half at planting time and the rest after the crops are well 

 started, in one or two applications, according to special cir- 

 cumstances. 



At the present time. I recommend acid phosphate in your 

 work in preference to other forms offered for sale. Regard- 

 ing potash, if you are in any doubt and don't want to test the 

 matter for yourself, use sulphate. But in general, muriate 

 ansAvers just as well on light soils, especially if abundance of 

 organic matter and calcium carbonate are kept in the soil. 



A generous application of nitrogen is sixty pounds per 

 acre, an amount which is contained in four hundred pounds 

 of nitrate ; of phosphoric acid, eighty-five pounds, contained 

 in six hundred pounds of fourteen per cent, acid phosphate; 

 of potash, one hundred pounds, contained in two hundred 

 pounds of high grade sulphate or muriate. These quantities 

 combined would make an application of twelve hundred 

 pounds per acre of a high grade mixed fertilizer. More than 

 fifteen hundred pounds may be regarded as high feeding. 

 The amounts one can use most profitably is a matter that 

 can be learned only by actual experiment under the special 

 conditions of each grovrer. 



Balanced Fertilizers. 



We hear considerable discussion about balanced plant- 

 foods or fertilizers, meaning the distribution of nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid and potash in those proportions which the 

 plant can best utilize for most economical growth. For your 

 purposes, there is only one point I would emphasize in rela- 

 tion to so-called balanced fertilizers. Keep enough available 

 nitrogen in the soil to insure early, rapid and continuous 

 growth, but make sure, in addition, to keep enough available 

 phosphorus and potassium there to enable the nitrogen to do 

 all the work it can. and also enough to prevent the nitrogen 

 from running away with the growth of stems and leaves in 

 the case of those crops in which the leaves and stems do not 

 constitute the marketable portion. 



Methods of Application. 



In the matter of applying plant-foods, you must be govern- 



