The Prescott daily news., 1916-03-10
6. FERTILIZERS AND THE HOME
 GARDEN.

A farmer that we used to know
 quite well always put on his garden
 plot a sack of guano and three or four
 loads of stable and other kinds of
 barnyard manure. His garden cover
 ed about one-fifth of an acre, and was
 good land to begin with. In fact, he
 had selected good, rich spot of
 ground for his garden. The fertilizer
 he applied amounted to a thousand
 pounds per acre, and the barnyard ma
 nure to about seven or eight tons. Of
 course, he grew good garden, as
 dered why his garden was so much
 better than other parts of his farm.
 He was a good farmer and made plen-
 ty of everything, and to spare. He
 knew that he made liberal applica
 tions of fertilizers and manures to
 his garden, but was never quite will
 ing to acknowledge that these made
 all the difference in the yields.
 Our gardens are usually the rich
 est spots on the farm, and are so only
 because we make them so by fertili-
 zation and cultivation. Every acre in
 the average farm could be made just
 as rich if we tried to make 1t so. We do not consider sufficiently the fac tors which make fertile land. We do not strive to do intensive farming, but rather make 1t as extensive as our acres will allow. When we wish
 to make an additional bale of cotton or bushel of corn, we take in more land instead of enriching what is al
 ready under cultivation.
 Dr. L. H. Bailey has given in his book, The Principles of Vegetable Gardening" some valuable sugges-
 tions on the use of commercial fertil-
 izers. The kind and amount of fer tilizers," he says, are to be deter
 mined by several circumstances CD
 The earliness or quickness with which
 the crop is to be obtained; CD the intensity of the operations to which
 the man is committed; (3} the char
 acter of the land as regards tilth and texture; () the character of the land as regards richness in plant food; (5) the kind or species of crops to be raised" Whatever the condition of the land or the nature of the crop, it must be fertilized if the gardener meets with success. Competition in the truck-growing business can be met in no other way than by liber- aIIv fartiIiyipo tho prc,-vd op u,b ol, the crops gro-'. Dr. Ba ley has wise ly said that fertilizers must be ap- piled in excess of the actual needs of the plants. It is impossible to dis tribute a very small quantity of fertil- iZers over a large area.
 Vegetables are such rapid growing plants that one need not fear that much of the fertilizer will leach out through the soil on account of rain If it is applied close to or in the drill row. all of it should be saved The plants will absorb it before it gets away. The formula generally recom- mended consists of a complete fertil- izer, though the acid phosphate and nitrogen should come from different sources, even in the same fertilizer applied at any given time. The mix ture for gardens should be composed of as many kinds of ingredients as possible, carrying the three funda-
 mental elements of plant food--pot-
 ash, nitrogen and phosphoric acid Voorhees, recommends heavy appli- cations of such mixtures to the com mercial gardens and to truck patches. He says 1000 to 5000 pounds per acre of such mixture should be ap- piled to asparagus, and as much to beets and turnips less than that to peas and beans. With any amount an after application has been found profitable This is sometimes called the second application, which is not generally a complete fertilizer but is composed of nitrogen, or one of the other clements alone The second ap. plication of fertilizers may be com. posed of ammonia and acid. or other
 formula to suit the immediate crop. Garden vegetables need large ap-
 plicNions of fertilizer because any check in their growth produces infe- riority in quality. It is said by Dr.
 Bailey that any delay in the growth of lettuce or radishes will generally
 cause a pungent flavor or sharp taste that is undesirable. It cut down the market value. The way to remove
 any cause for this is to fertilize well
 and properly and then cultivate The
 turnip is made very inferior when
 there is a check in growth. The veg
 etables that are thus stunted seem to