Edible Products. 



294 



the surface of the ground smooth and mellow by means of frequent shallow cultiva- 

 tions in order to save water for the plants. Every drop of water which we let pass 

 off into air by means of careless cultivation, is a drop wasted. 



FERTILIZATION. 



Along with the preparation of the soil, the cultivation and irrigation, comes 

 fertilization. These four operations overlap and interlock so that it is impossible 

 to say which one is the most important. It is probably true that in the sections 

 of the Island which have been longest settled the soil is more or less deficient in 

 the essential elements of plant food. By essential elsments of plant food, we mean 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. There are many other elements that help to 

 make up the soil and are essential to xilant growth, but these three elements are the 

 ones we have to buy and pay dearly for in the form of commercial fertilizers, stable 

 manure, or any other means of soil improvement. All soils contain more or less of 

 these elements in combination with many others. Very frequently these elements 

 are present in sufficient quantities, but in an unavailable form so that the plant 

 cannot get them for its use. In other cases a part of the elements are available 

 so that the plant makes a fair growth, but we must supplement its food before 

 it can make a really strong growth. 



The question of maintaining the fertility of the land is largely an individual 

 one with every farmer and for every field in the farm. With the varying conditions 

 of soil and climate it is impossible to give rules for fertilization that will work out 

 satisfactorily in all cases. Each farmer must test and find out for his own farm the 

 kind and amount of fertilizer that will give him the best results. 



Nitrogen is the element that gives strong growth to the plant, and a very 

 dark, healthy green colour to the foliage. When a plant is suffering for the want of 

 nitrogen it has a poor weak growth and the leaves are of a pale yellow colour. Phos- 

 phoric acid is supposed to be the plant food that promotes fruitfulness and early 

 maturity. Potash is the element that gives solidity, firmness, colour and carrying 

 qualities to the fruit. 



AN EXCELLENT FERTILIZER. 



A fertilizer that has given us excellent results during the past year with 

 tomatoes and all other classes of vegetables, is a mixture, by weight, of one-half 

 part nitrate of soda, one part sulphate of ammonia, one part sulphate of potash, and 

 three parts acid phosphate, or ground bone. This formula, used at the rate of five 

 hundred to fifteen hundred pounds per acre, according to the soil, ought to give 

 good results. There is no doubt that in the light sandy soil an application of from 

 one thousand to two thousand pounds per acre will give very profitable results with 

 tomatoes. 



HARVESTING. 



This is an important operation and one too little considered by many 

 growers. Nearly every shipper of tomatoes picks his fruit too green. It is 

 almost useless to pick and ship half-grown tomatoes, for they will never ripen 

 sufficiently to be fit for eating. Care should be taken in picking to see that 

 the tomatoes have reached full maturity as to size. They should have passed 

 the dead green colour and reached the white stage of ripeness. When gathered 

 in this stage they will carry in excellent shape to their destination and ripen 

 to their full colour. In the best tomato sections they usually assort the picked 

 fruit into three grades, the ripe, the medium ripe and the green. Each one of 

 these divisions is usually divided into first and second grade as to size. For 

 the best sales it is necessary to have the fruit in each package as nearly uniform 

 in size and stage of ripeness as possible. Some growers are very careless about 



