Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-03-19
Farm and Garden Notes


double tfeir original weight.
kssps 06 Breed Sows.
Tho books on the Toyne farm will
show greater production next year,
as the proprietors are keeping 50
brood sows In spite Of the slump in
the price of hogs, especially the
heavy kinds.
"When they discounted my heavy
hogs this morning I got awful mad
and told the world that l was going
to ship every brood SOW on the farm"
commented Toyne Monday But. Of
course, won't. Guy and I are just
going to keep on saving wood. Prices
will be better. Stock sold at some
period every year shows~u profit, and
we are going TO try and hit that pc
Rod with what we raise You bet We
will continue with the books-they
show US just where we stand"
Thrift Fertilizers for the Garden.
| 1t is a difficult matter for the ordi-
nary gardener to procure stable
manure properly 10 fertilize his
garden and keep the soil in good
, filth. In fact. in many communities
1t Is impossible to secure supplies so
that gardeners are becoming more
and more dependant upon patent"
! fertilizers and such manures as can
be readily secured in the way of the
so-called green" manures, which
consist Of turning uncer vegetable
1 matter. usually some member of the
bean and clover tribe.
II has come TO a point where the
1 best method that can be employed is
| to preserve all vegetable matter
such as leaves. lawn rakirg, tops of
vegetables. and the like, to be spaded
in to furnish humus or decayed vege.
table matter which Is not in itself
! food for the plants so much as a car
rier for moisture and the necessary
elements to support the life of vege-
tables or flowers.
! Nitrogen Easily Furnished.
! Nitrogen is the main element OF
fertilizers and this can be readily
secured In quickly available
form in nitrate Of soda 1t
is the chief element in stable
manures in the form Of the
ammonia formed in their decay. But
there are other very necessary fer
|tilizers in stable manures which can
only be furnished by patent" april
cations where farm or stable man
ures are lacking, one of the chief of
these in potash. 1t is procurable at
a reasonable price in the form Of
potash salts or KANT, before the war
being exported in great quantities by
! Germany. That supply cut off, 1t
mounted to a prohibitive value.
| 1t became a problem for govern
ment experts and chemists the
country over. The simplest and most
easily procured potash fertilizer for
| a long time came from hard wood
ashes. Now the supply is short. Ex-
perts on fertilizers advise gardeners
that they may furnish potash to
their soil by the use of ashes of Ger
tain vegetables. It is advised that
ehese vegetables when their period of
usefulness is over be burned and the
! ashes be spread upon the soil to be
leached in by the rains.
A popularity of potash salts Is
that they do not leach out of the soil
as do other elements, but are held
close to the surface where they may
be taken up readily by the plants.
In short, q good gardener will put
everything back into the soil that is
left after he has used his vegetables.
Potash in Vegetable Ashes.
The ashes Of pea and bean vines
furnish the largest per cent OF
potash. They should either be spaded,
under for nitrogen or burned and the
ashes used as potash fertilizer.
Potato vines. beet tops, asparagus
stalks. and corn cobs all yield ashes
which are OF value as potash fertil-
izers. They are not as rich m
! potash salts as the ashes OF pea and
| bean vines, but are valuable.