258 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
April, 1911 
plant growth, is applied by a 
sprinkling on the surface of 
the soil beside the plants. It 
must not touch the foliage and 
it should not be covered, as 
its tendency is to work down¬ 
ward. 
Fertilizers that are readily 
available as plant food are 
more expensive and, merely 
from an economical stand¬ 
point, their composition should 
be suited to the individual 
needs of the plants. For in¬ 
stance, beans and peas do not 
need nitrogen, but they do 
want lime and potash. Beets 
want all three elements in abund¬ 
ance. Turnips require phosphates 
in large proportions and potatoes 
and fruits require potash. 
By keeping a careful record of 
the conditions which attend certain 
results, the gardener can learn to 
know the deficiencies of his soil and 
thus give it the plant food it re¬ 
quires. To do this one will need to 
prepare his own fertilizers. In 
handling fertilizers one should wear 
gloves to protect the hands from 
poisonous or caustic ingredients. 
'I'he various fertilizing substances 
which have formed into lumps must 
be reduced at least to the consist¬ 
ency of coarse salt by pounding or 
sifting before they can be mixed. 
In mixing, the ingredients are spread in layers and then turned 
-over with a shovel or hoe until evenly distributed. 
Nitrate of soda, especially, and other chemical fertilizers be¬ 
sides, should be used as soon as possible after their purchase, as 
they lose value by contact with the air. 
Nitrate of soda, when applied alone, has an immediate effect 
upon growing plants — it will not remain in the soil, but works 
down through it with no benefit to plant growth if applied before 
it can be taken up by the root 
system. 
The following fertilizers 
are adapted to the peculiar 
needs of certain vegetables: 
For sweet potatoes, in quanti¬ 
ty to fertilize one-twentieth of 
an acre, eight pounds of mu¬ 
riate of potash, two and one- 
half pounds of available phos¬ 
phoric acid, twenty pounds of 
acid phosphate and twelve 
pounds of nitrate of soda. 
This is mixed with the soil 
before the plants are set. 
For asparagus, one part sul¬ 
phate of ammonia and two 
parts muriate of potash, applied in 
the row over the crowns, using 
about fifty pounds on one-twen¬ 
tieth of an acre. 
For tomatoes, on a similar area, 
five pounds of nitrate of soda, 
eight and one-half of bone tank¬ 
age, five pounds of acid phosphate 
and six pounds of muriate of pot¬ 
ash, will furnish the right propor¬ 
tions for growth on ordinary gar¬ 
den soil. 
Onions require heavy feeding. 
Twenty pounds of nitrate of soda, 
fifteen pounds of muriate of pot¬ 
ash and twenty pounds of bone 
meal make a suitable mixture. 
Two applications, just before 
planting, and at the side of the 
row about a month later, give satisfactory results. 
In soil supplied with nitrogenous material, the fruit trees and 
bushes will mature fine crops of fruit if early in the season they 
are given a fertilizer of two parts muriate of potash and three 
parts ground bone, using eight hundred pounds to the acre. 
But whether you choose a liquid or solid, chemical or natural 
mixture, one of the greatest factors for success is continual activ¬ 
ity. After it is spread see that it is so thoroughly turned that it 
One of the greatest and at the same time cheapest ways of fertilizing 
the garden is by sowing rye or clover in the fall and plowing it 
under when several inches high 
Broadcasting a compost of stable manure over the soil will 
do much good usually, but do not consider it the be¬ 
ginning and end of the fertilizer problem 
Apply nitrate of soda along the sides of rows, when the plants need 
an immediate stimulus 
Some of the chemical fertilizers are applied in the rows before the 
seeds are sown 
