The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1915-03-25
McConneIIsb Gardens.

nave pr01table gardens, ask them
if they are entirely satisfied with
the way their gardens are pro-
ducing, and we feel safe in max
ing the assertion that nearly ev-
cry one will answer NO." Let
US suppose that each of the fifty
gardens has been well manured
until the ground is constantly
nice and mellow. Possibly, a
few bushels of lime have occas-
ionally been applied. Still, the
garden does not produce a satis-
factory all-round crop of vegeta-
bles. What is the matter? The
chances are ninety-nine to one
that phosphoric acid-a neces-
sary element-is lacking in the
soil. Go at once to a dealer in
fertilizers and purchase a sack of
acid phosphate. 1t is low-priced
costs less than a cent a pound.
Use from twenty-five to fifty
pounds-being governed by the
size of the garden. Spade the
ground, sprinkle the phosphate
over before raking, then rake it
into the soil until we'll mixed with
the top two or three inches. Un-
less you have half an acre or
more of ground, a sack will be
more than you need. Get your
neighbors to join with you in the
purchase. Remember, that the
use of acid phosphate in this
manner is meant only for gar
dens that have been well manur-
ed. A different course must be
followed for gardens that have
not had an abundance of stable
manure.
We frequently hear it said that
I'm days of DID," when we had
plenty of manure, and plenty of
clover to plough down, the use of
little lime at long intervals was
all that was needed to keep soil
in good producing condition.
Very true. Why, then, does not
the same rule hold good to-day?
Simply because one, two, or three
of the necessary elements of
plant food have escaped from the
soil through long years of culti-
walton, or by teaching. If an
abundance of stable manure has
been used, then it is reasonable
to suppose that two of them have
been returned. But we know
for a certainty that stable ma
nure alone cannot return phos-
phoric acid as rapidly as plants
take it out. When God put Ad-
am into the garden, He told him
to dress it, and He meant just
what he said. At the time Ad-
am began farming, the soil was
new" and, doubtless, contained
all necessary elements in just the
right proportion. But a wise
Providence foresaw what would
happen, and we firmly believe
that the large deposits of nitro
gen, rock-phosphate, potash, and
lime, were made and hidden away
in lonely places to be preserved
for mans use when, by constant
reaping, these elements would
disappear. In addition to ferti-
lizers, oil, coal, all the various
ores, and a multitude of other
things were intended to be dis
covered and used by man when
the time came that he realized
his need of them. Well, some
time ago, it was found that three
necessary elements escaped from
the soil during a longer
or a shorter period of harvesting.
The three elements are, nitrogen
phosphoric acid, and potash. An
abundant use of stable manure
restores two of them nitrogen
and potash; that is, we could get
along fairly well without looking
for them in any other carrier.
But stable manure is too low in
acid phosphate five pounds to the
toni to depend entirely on it for
sufficient supply. Hence, the
great deposits of rock phosphate
located at several places in the
United States, were hunted up,
quarried, the rock ground fine,
and treated with sulphuric acid,