The Pulaskian., 1916-03-10
6. FERTILIZERS AND THE HOME
 GARDEN.


 A farmer that we used to know quite well always put on his garden plot 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 most people do, and yet he often won- 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 app1ica- 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 it so. We do not consider sufficiently the fac tors which make fertile land. We do not strive to do intensive farming, but rather make it 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; (2) the intensity of the operations to which the man is committed; (3) the char acter of the land as regards tilth and texture; (4) the character of the land
 
 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 truckgrowing business can be met in no other way than by liber- ally fertilizing the ground on which the crops grow. Dr. Bailey 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 1t gets away The formula generally recom- mended consists of 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 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- plications 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 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 check in growth. The veg etables that are thus stunted seem to revert to the original type from which they were derived, especially with re- gard to taste, and hence should be carefully looked after in regard to fer tilization and cultivation. Fertilizers should be applied to the vegetable garden as early after the spring breaking as possible, as the soil ought to be saturated with rich plant food