The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-06-05
CROPS NEED NOT FAIL
Growers May Apply Fertilizer After
Crops Are Up.

UTMOST 10 supply COusuHleIs Win Ter
tilizers in every section of New Eng
land. There is enugh fertilizer to go
around, but distribution is limited by
the time factor. Great difficulties
have upset the manufacture and dis
tribution Of fertilizers this season
The snow. embargoes and strikes
have interfered with the normal ship
ments and the lack Of labor has been
a great detriment to the business.
Shipments have been made and are
being made every day, so the output
at this time is even greater per diem
than for several months. Most farm
ers can be supplied during the month
of June, and late applications of terd
lizer may be quite as effective as ii ap
piled at planting time.
The Boston Herald of May 9th apt
ly states thai unless chemical plant
foods arrive in ample quantities for
cultivation into the rows beside the
growing crops, there will be denger.
Gus falling Off in the harvest New
England raises so little of what it
consumes that it cannot afford to face
a deficiency in its already too scanty
harvest, and the rest of the country
canno. afford to have it do so.
Commercial fertilizer is the main
stay of the New England farmers. 1t
is therefore much better and wiser to
make delayed fertilizer application
after crops are planted and up, than
to attempt to grow crop with no
fertilizer at all, or with less than the
usual quantity. Remember that Fer
tilizer conseryes farm labor by making
it more productive. The big problem
il to apply the fertilizer with the least
possible amount of labor, but at such
ia time, and such way, as to make
lit most effective.
The seed itself furnishes the food
required for the start Of the new crop.
1t is of course, an advantage to have
available plant food within reach cf
the hungry rootlets just as soon as
they are formed. If, however, this
has been impossible, the next best
thing is tc get the fertilizer on before
this supply. of available food is entire.
ly exhausted.
Within an astonishing short time af
I ter the plan1 is up" the roots meet
and interlace between the rows.
Plant food in fertilizer should be appli.
ed along the rows but not in direct
contact viii the plant at or before
the first hoeing or cultivation, and is
soon available to this net work OF root
hairs. The principal thing, then, is
to gel the fertilizer on and worked in
to the soil, SO that the growth of the
plant will be uninterrupted. Since
The food in the seed is exhaus ed by
the time the corn seedlings reach q
height of six or seven inches, the az
plication should be made before that
stage of growth has been reached.
How to Apply
/. Use the common grain drill with
two OF the hoes or discs set high over
the row Of corn. Close the openings
in these two tubes, so that no fertili
ger can drop on the corn
2. Apply with regular fer ilizei
distributor. If yours is not OF the
type which has feed spcuts, use bur
lap bags SO arranged as to form three
spouts.
8. Use a fertilizer attachment OF
the cultiyator. This cultivates and fer
tilizes IN one operation.
H. Use the two-row corn planter
with fertilizer attachment, driving
astride the rows. This is better thar
hand application, but not as good
method as the others mentioned.
5. Use the cnehorse or five no,
grain drill, such as is used for seed
ing win er grains in standing corn
This machine Is also most excellen
for applying side dressings of fertili
ger to potatoes, cabbages, tomatoes
and in fact, to all rowed crops.
II you use fertilizer broadcastei
cultivae or work the soil Immediately
after applying the fertillzee. Thl
mixes the fertilizer through the SSH 81
that all the small feeding rootlets car
get i e Do not work deep enough t
cut the roots.
: Side Dressing Potatoes
For years practical potato grower
have followed the practice of making
, second application of fertilizer whel
he vines are from six to eight inche
high-sometimes even up to the tim
J the first blossoms appear. This il
probably too late, but II the amount o
J fertilizer applied at the time of plan
ing has been cut down or fertilize
omitted altogether, it Is all the NOR
necessary and profitable to get at /
sh.rt'y after grown has started
Apply as for corn, except take pain
to get the fertilizer nearer the row
| Potato roots do not forage as far no
' as widely as do the roots of the ccrr
The potato plant is lazy" and need
. m abundance of food naor n huOd