FERTILIZERS AND 
so, at equal distances around a plant, using pots small 
enough not to go down and interfere with the growing 
tubers, and placing them six inches from the stem. Fill 
the pots twice with weak manure water at each applica- 
tion. A teacupful of dry sheep manure can be stirred 
into a large bucket of water and used at once, in that 
strength. Keep the water stirred as it is poured that 
the mixture may be equally rich; it will answer for two 
plants. 
Commercial fertilizers can be used as top dressings, 
well raked into the soil, as the flower buds begin to form. 
Mixtures should vary with soils. One veteran grower 
recommends one part, by bulk, of nitrate of soda, 
one part muriate of potash, two parts bone meal. The 
soda is for foliage and stem, the potash for brilliancy of 
color, and strong tuber growth; the bone meal for pro- 
fusion of bloom. A handful for each plant is ample. 
Another grower uses one part, by bulk, nitrate of soda, 
four parts bone meal, as a top dressing for a sandy soil. 
For the home garden use one ounce of this mixture for 
each square yard, one pound for each fifty feet of row, 
scattering each side of the plants. Note that this form- 
ula is for sandy soils. It contains too much nitrogen 
for a heavy soil, into which stable and other animal 
manures have been worked previous to planting. For 
a heavy soil, thus previously manured, use one part, 
bulk, bone black, one part acid phosphate. One suc- 
cessful grower finds that average soils, not too heavy, 
