The Prescott daily news., 1916-03-09
6. FERTILIZERS AND THE HOME
 GARDEN.

barnyard manure. His garden cover ed about one-fifth of an acre. and was
 good land to begin with. In fact, he
 ground for his garden. The fertilizer he applied amounted to 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 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 Dailou hoe oivop in,
 book, "The Principles of Vegetable Gardening" some valuable sugges- tions on the use of commercial fertll- 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
 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,
 1t must be fertilized if the gardener
 meets with success. Competition in the ruck-growing business can be
 met in no other way than by liber-
 ally fertilizing the ground on which
 the crops gror. 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 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. l If 1t is applied close to or In the drill | row. all of it should be saved. The | plants will absorb 1t before 1t gets | away. The formula generally recom- | mended consists of complete fertil- l 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 clements 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 l profitable. This Is sometimes called 1 the second application, which is not ! generally a complete fertilizer. but Is l composed of nitrogen. or one of the | other elements alone. The second ap- | plication of fertilizers may be com. l posed of ammonia and acid, or other | formula to suit the immediate crop | Garden vegetables need large ap-
 plicaions 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 1 cause a pungeht flavor or sharp taste
 that is undesirable. It cut down the
 market value. The way to remove
 any cause for this is to fertilize we'll
 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
 revert to the original type from which
 they were derived. especially with re- | gard to taste, and hence should be