THE GARDEN PRIMER 



dients are important to know and remember, for even 

 though a complete commercial product that just suits 

 one's garden is found, it is well to have an intelligent 

 understanding of its composition. Many times the 

 application of one of the three is all that is needed, and 

 where this is the case it is much better to use only the 

 one — for gorging the soil is as bad as starving it. 



Nitrogen is supplied by nitrate of soda, sulphate 

 of ammonia, cotton seed meal, high grade dried blood, 

 green manuring — that is, a leguminous crop such as 

 cow peas, clover of all kinds, soy beans and others, 

 grown and plowed under — and by stable manure. 

 No fertilizer is better than the latter if properly 

 handled, and all f ertiKzers should be supplemented by 

 it for the humus that it carries into the soil. 



Potash is furnished by muriate and sulphate of 

 potash — the latter is preferable as it can be used on ail 

 plants while the former cannot — by a crude German 

 product called kainite, and by unleached wood ashes. 

 The latter of course yield it in a much less degree for a 

 given bulk, but they are invaluable as a fertilizer. 



Phosphoric acid comes in ''floats" — that is in 

 South Carolina rock from the phosphatic beds of that 

 state — ^in what are known as superphosphates, and in 

 the various kinds of plain bone meal and bone ash or 

 ground bone "flours" that are on the market. 



The work of these three elements is divided of 

 course, but generally speaking nitrogen promotes lux- 

 uriant growth of leaf and branch, hence is the greatest 

 stimulant to those vegetables especially of which we 



88 



