In order to be able to supply your garden soil with the elements of plant food it really needs you will have to keep a record of production 
under various conditions, and then mix your fertilizers in the proper proportions to suit. Break up all lumps and mix the ingredients 
by hoeing in a box 
The Fertilizer Problem and the Amateur 
WHAT SORT OF PLANT FOOD THE GARDEN SOIL NEEDS—WHEN AND HOW TO 
GIVE IT—MIXING YOUR OWN FERTILIZERS—SOME CONVENIENT FORMULAE 
by M. Roberts Conover 
Photographs by the author 
T HE garden soil is not an inexhaustible storehouse from which 
toothsome vegetables are yielded year after year with no 
return of plant food. The time spent in cultivation and planting 
is an investment yielding return in proportion to the hidden re¬ 
sources of the soil — and these resources are directly affected by 
the crops produced therefrom. 
Too frequently the amateur gardener feels that the whole fer¬ 
tilizer problem is solved for him if he dumps a cartload or two of 
old manure over the garden, in the fall or in the spring, and lets 
it go at that. And in the majority of cases it will serve to stimu¬ 
late a fairly presentable growth. If, however, you want to excel 
in your garden activities and really produce a maximum of yield 
and quality you will need to investigate this matter of fertilizers 
further. 
You will find that a timely and judicious application of one of 
the chemical fertilizers — the immediately available kinds of plant 
food—will supply just that most needed element that the plant 
craves. Instead of reaping the average commonplace crop you 
will have entered the record class. Such a desirable result, how¬ 
ever, can follow only after the amateur is willing to spend a little 
time and study on this problem of plant foods and plant stimu¬ 
lants. 
As a general principle those garden crops which have the great¬ 
est nutritive value remove from the soil a greater amount of plant 
food than those lower in the scale of foods. To this, beans and 
peas are exceptions. These nourishing vegetables leave the soil 
richer in nitrogen and do not require supplies of soil nitrogen 
during their growth. 
Nitrogen, potash and phosphates must be supplied to the gar¬ 
den soil before it is taxed for another crop, and while the propor¬ 
tions of these chemicals favorable to good plant growth may be 
ascertained, gardening is not so exact a science that all the ele¬ 
ments applied can be accounted for in the soil or in the crops. 
The elements of plant food removed by growth are returned to 
the soil in the various kinds of animal waste — manure, different 
forms of bone, etc., in mineral compounds, green manures, and a 
very small proportion in the unedible parts of vegetable growth 
which enter into composts. 
The elements contained in these substances are released as 
plant food, rapidly or gradually according to the form in which 
they are applied. On garden soil where rapid growth and two or 
more crops are demanded, fertilizers which decompose quickly 
are absolutely essential. Of the various kinds of animal waste, 
poultry manure ranks first in this respect, if it has been kept 
under shelter and its nitrogen preserved by layers of earth and 
dustings of land-plaster during its accumulation. 
A garden fertilized by being spread with twelve tons of this 
manure to the acre will surpass in its yield an equal area dressed 
with stable compost. 
Stable manure is valuable for later effect after decay has lib¬ 
erated its elements. When applied fresh it is very injurious to 
delicate plants. If, however, it is thoroughly mixed with the soil 
by plowing and harrowing, this trouble is obviated. In this form 
it is beneficial to plants after three or four weeks. Old rotted 
manure is used in direct contact to plants without injury. If in 
addition to a heavy dressing of manure, quick-acting fertilizers are 
applied as they are needed by the plants, the garden soil is well 
stocked for a season’s cropping. 
The use of green manure has an effect somewhat similar to 
the compost. It is supplied by planting some such crop as rye 
or clover upon the soil, allowing it to grow to a height of several 
inches and plowing it under. This replaces in the soil the elements 
used in growth and improves its mechanical condition by supply¬ 
ing humus. Leaves and tobacco stems have excellent fertilizing 
qualities also. 
Quick-acting fertilizers whose elements are in proportions 
suited to different vegetables are procured from dealers at prices 
averaging about three cents a pounds, and these give satisfactory 
results with judicious use. These may be distributed along the 
row beneath the seed, mixing well with the soil, or such fertilizers 
may be worked into the soil at one side of the vegetables after 
they have begun growing. Nitrate of soda, used to stimulate 
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