154 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
practice of making- two or three appli¬ 
cations of fertilizer to the same crop. 
Anyone who has studied the results 
from the various methods of crop fer¬ 
tilization, will bear me out in saying that 
fo: all short season crops, such as cu¬ 
cumbers, beans, Irish potatoes, etc., 
fertilizer for the crop should be applied 
broadcast and mixed with the soil be¬ 
fore the crop is planted.. The reason for 
this is that certain chemical changes 
have to occur in the soil before the 
roots of the plants can use the plant 
food from this fertilizer to advantage. 
Now, if, say one-third of the fertilizer 
is applied in the furrow or in the hill 
before planting the crop, and then at 
the second or third working of the crop 
another application of fertilizer is made, 
and then a still later application, one 
can readily see that the crop is not 
going to get the full advantage of the 
fertilizer, because sufficient time will 
not have elapsed to make it available 
before the crop is made. Over and 
above this, that method tends to dis¬ 
turb the root system of the growing 
crop and will interfere with the feed¬ 
ing ability of the roots, so that the crop 
does not get the most out of the fer¬ 
tilizer. The growers who are getting 
the best returns are those who apply 
the fertilizer broadcast and mix it well 
with the soil, and conduct the future 
cultivation of the crop as shallow as 
possible so as not to interfere with the 
work of the roots in the soil. 
TOO MUCH AREA TO ONE CROP 
Some growers, before planting time, 
want to put as large an acreage as they 
possibly can into a crop that they think 
is going to give the best returns. Some 
ol them do not consider the question 
of available help at harvest time. In 
many cases a loss occurs from lack of 
help to handle the crop and send it to 
market when ready. We can sympa¬ 
thize with the man who has the fertil¬ 
izer, land, and everything else neces¬ 
sary, and trusts to luck when it comes 
to harvesting; but we find, in many 
cases, particularly in the bulky crops, 
that a loss occurs through the inability 
of the producer to get enough help 
when he needs it. 
IS IRRIGATION NECESSARY ? 
Another mistake that a number of 
our vegetable growers make is that of 
depending too much upon irrigation. 
The man with a few acres of irrigated 
land considers himself well fortified 
against a good many things that may 
happen during the growth of his crop, 
let it be what it may. The main thing 
he depends upon is of course water. 
Now, while it is true that the most im¬ 
portant factor in all crop production is 
soil mosture; at the same time the 
quality of the product from irrigated 
land is not as good as that from soils 
that have been properly prepared be¬ 
fore the crop was planted. We have 
in Florida, enough rainfall to make a 
maximum crop of any of our products, 
providing we start in time to prepare 
the land and do it in the proper way. 
If we have large enough holdings, so 
that we can rotate crops and diversify 
them in such a way that we are all the 
time building up the soil, the matter 
