The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-07-03
FOR 4HB FARM GARDENS
Agricultural Department Circular
on Fruits and Vegetables
The Best Kinds of Fertilizers for All
sorts OF CropS-R eIntiVe Values of
Nitrate of soda. SUIphatc Of Am
mOnin, and Dried DiOOd-0nly
Chemicals Were Used Up to 1897.

Dealing with the many farm gardens
that have been established in the neigh
borhood Of Washington and the large guam
titles OF fruits and vegetables that are
brought into the city from day TO day, the
Department OF Agriculture has issued
circular which. among other things. speci-
fes the best kinds Of fertilizers for garden
crops. The circular applies. Of course. to
the farm gardens adjacent 10 all large
cities. Extracts from il follow:
since 1892 the Massachusetts Hatch Sta
tion has been conducting a series Of ex-
periments 10 tez- the relative value OF nj
trate OF soda. sulphate OF ammonia. and
dried blood as sources Of nitrogen for dif-
ferent garden crops. and at the same time
TO make a comparison Of uUriate with sui
phate Of potash, when used with each OF
the three heterogeneous fertilizers for the
same class OF crops Dissolved boneblack
was applied equally 70 al plats from the
first These experiments were continued
UNMARRIED until 1897 Sulphate Of potash in
connection with nitrate Of soda generally
gave the best crop; n cases where il did
not. it gave one but slightly inferior TO the
best except il the case Of one crop. sweet
corn. a plant which makes much Of its
growth in the latter part OF the season
Nitrate Of soda in almost every in
stance proved the most valuable source OF
nitrogen, whether used with muriaJe or
sulphate Of potash. Sulphate Of ammonia
and muriate OF potash when used together
gave the poorest yield in every instance.
The result was apparently due 10 a chemi-
cal reaction between these two substances
in the soil resulting in the formation Of
ammonium ChlOTid a substance which is
injurious 10 plant growth
Up 10 1887 only chemical fertilizers
were used. but IN 1898 a change was made
in the plan Of the experiment In view
Of the fact that market gardeners, in
whose interest chiefly these experiments
were carried out. almost Invariably use
large quantities Of stable manure. and
employ commercial fertilizers, II al all,
simply 10 supplement the manure. IL was
decided 10 apply equal amounts OF thor
Oughly mixed stable manure 10 each plat
and 10 use in addition the same fertilizers
as before Further, in order TO have the
best data for determining whether the fer
filters should prove in any degree useful.
another plat was added TO which manure
alone was applied. A number Of different
garden crops were grown, including SPIN
ach. lettuce. table beets. tomatoes. and
cabbage; and, as a second crop, turnips-
Spinach gave by far the best results
with nitrate OF soda On sulphate Of am
mOnia plats il was almost an absolute fail
ure. many plants dying soon after germi-
nation and most OF the others becoming
yellow and sickly. Sulphate OF potash
gave somewhat better returns than did
the muriate. Very similar results were
obtained with beets. Most of the plants
on the sulphate of ammonia plats became
weak and sickly and many died; but the
few that survived until about July gradu-
ally recovered their vigor and grew very
rapidly. The results with tomatoes were
also in part similar. Sulphate Of potash