Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-04-14
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and cultivating necessary, therefore II
you can double the yield Of strawber-
ries by making the soil very rich, you
will be more than repaid by adding this
excessive supply Of fertility.
Remember that your strawberry
plantation will require no more hoeing,
weeding or horse cultivation on rich
soil than on poor soil. Thus, II you
can Increase the yield from 100 bushels
an acre to 200 bushels an acre by add
ing 800 worth of commercial fertilizer
or other fertilizers, you can readily zee
how profitable will be the investment
In this fertilizer.
1t is true that you can raise good
fair crop Of strawberries on almost any
soil which will produce good fair
crop of corn or potatoes. Most people
are satisfied with an ordinary crop Of
Strawberries, such rs can be secured on
this ordinary soil, but state positive
~ that you can make no better invest
ment than TO heavily fertilize every
inch Of the land you have planted to
Strawberries.
When TO enrich the strawberry plan
tation is an important question. II you
intend to apply barnyard manure. It Is
well to spread It upon the land the sea
son previous to setting out the straw
berry plantation. II you can not apply
It then, another good plan is to cover
the strawberry plantation with good
stable manure at the opening Of win.
ter or during winter. This will enrich
the bed II left on until the spring rains
are over. but the objection to this plan
Is that the fruit bearing beds are re-
seNled with tic weeds Ut seed apl
grass which can only be removed at
considerable expense. II commercial
fertilizers are to be applied. you should
walt until the strawberry plants have
made some growth, SO that they may
be ready to take up the plant food.
Therefore, In July, go over the newly
planted strawberry bed and scatter the
fertilizer between the plants and be
tween the rows so that 1t covers pretty
nearly all Of the ground Be careful
not to allow the fertilizer to fall upon
the leaves of the plants, especially II
they are moist. as commercial fertiliE
ers will often burn the leaves.
| Tonics.
A stock tonic is not medicine,
cure, a remedy, but an aid to the di.
gestiye and assimilatiye processes OF
nutrition. 1t is thus preventive Of
disease. rightly compounded stock
tonic simply supplies the animal arti.
ficlally with certain necessary elements
for the perfect regulation of the proc.
ess OF nutrition. just as does the sup
plying OF salt in the same way.
Note that We say rightly compounded
tonic. For either an excess or lack
of certain Ingredients depreciates the
value of tonic, just as an incorrectly
balanced feed lowers its nutritiys
value. :
There is no secret about the com
position Of the well known stock tones
Indeed, most states have laws requiring
That the ingredients Of the contents b.
plainly printed on every package.
The exact proportion OF certain ele.
ments differ in different brands, but
the approximate proportions are known
to most stockmen, or can be obtained
from the national department OF agrl,
culture or from the different experi.
| ment stations
The question then arises, Why cannot
farmer make his own tonics? He
can, just as he can make his own cloth
Ing. If he can spend the time, get the
correct proportions and accomplish the
most effective combination For II
must be remembered that the right
amount Of each material simply put to-
gether in some cert of way does not
make suit Of clothes-no more does II
make an effective stock tonic. Not only
must the proportions be correct, but the
condition Of each ingredient must be
right and. consistency such that IL
will properly blend with all the Others
The makers Of stock tonics have the
proportions and the proper consistency
of the elements down fine and the
thrifty stockmen knows that he is not
only buying the right material In
reputable stock tonic, but he is also
buying the right skill and experience II
takes to compound the tonic correctly.