Milford chronicle., 1916-03-10
TIE CANNING TOMATO IN SUSSEX
(In four parts-Part p


There Is a tendency Of late years to
drop the belief that each crop needs a
special brand of fertilizer. and to rely
for results upon the building up of such
q high state of soil fertility that almost
any crop is sure to succeed. There are,
OF course, certain crops like the sweet
potato, that requires special treatment.
The tomato, however, is one of those
crops that respond we'll to the standard
methods of soil Improvement.
Manure is perhaps the most reliable
fertilizer for tomatoes. Especially on
the sander farms of the county, and on
heavier soils that have been OverwOrked,
stable or yard manure should have first
thought. 1t is no doubt possible to pro
dHce successful crops of tomatoes with
manure alone. and when this is done
there is the further advantage that soils
are kept up to q degree that is impOssi-
bic when commercial fertilizers are used
alone. 1t is usually possible, also, to get
more clover where manure has thus been
nsed, so that the ben eft is to be looked
for in several directions. As a rule, ma
nure should be broadcasted for the to-
mate crop. Poultry manure, if not plen-
tiful enough to cover the whole ground,
can profitably be used in the hill, or as
3 top dressing around the young plants.
The average yield Of tomatoes on 66
farms near Milton, in the year 1914, |
was 4 g tons. The relation Of the amounts
Of live stock on these farms, thru the
manure produced, TO yields Of tomatoes
IN this section brings out very definitely
the great value of manure for this crop. !
The figures are as follows:
Farms with much stock 4. 8 tons per acre
Yarns with medium stock 40 tons
Farms with little stock 3.6 tons.
This result came. probably, as much
because the use Of manure In other years
end on other crops had tended to build
up the soil, as because manure was used
on this one tomato crop.
Much land lies bare over winter that
could be growing rye, clover. or vetch.
These cover crops are most valuable in
building up a soil and keeping it in pro-
duetiVe condition, but are not without
danger when preceding tomatoes. When
any one of these winter crops is allowed
TO grow too long before plowing, or is
kept for hay or seed, the following clO-
yer crop is apt to suffer, even tho the A
soil may in the long run be helped. 1t {
is the belief of the writer that yields '
are often reduced in this way, when I
planters believe they are following the
right practice There is such thing as
.rying too hard to get two crops from I
he same land each year.
The ideal fertilization of the tomato
ior all types Of soils is not yet known.
Where manure is being used generously,
{ is likely that acid phosphate, several -
hundred pounds to the acre, would be u
most profitable. especially in a year of c
expensive potash. On fairly productive o
oils as much as 1900 pounds per acre of
rich truck fertilizer has paid for itself 7,
{ is believed to be safe rule that 400 c,
100 pounds of a mixture rich in phos- n
ihOrus can be used any year, that when
otash is cheap six to ten per cent can So
e be safely used, and that in the alb C
ence of manure 4 = of nitrogen will re- -
urn its cost Any amount Of fertilizer g.
yer 100 pounds per acre should be Al
rOadcasted, and amounts smaller than
nat can be wisely used, in the hill, only
hen the soil is already in a fairly pro- ~
lctive state. Al.
Lime, in the writer's experience and
has never benefited the Be
-op when applied the same year. II
Ill is exceedingly sour, ground, un- Ne
armed limestone could be used safely
le same year, but when only burned Fe
me is available it should rarely 60 on 81
st before the tomato crop. but rather
ie year before.
w. C. PRLTON, County Agent. Bo