Vegetable growing . tted manure is applied in the spring just beforeplowing, or in some cases, is put on after breaking and workedinto the soil. Partially decayed manure is applied in theautumn as a top dressing, and plowed under at that seasonof the year. The amount to use varies from 40 to 100 tonsper acre, depending upon the fertility of the land, and therottenness pf the manure. These amounts may seemexcessive to those accustomed to general farming, but theyare not too high, as any truck gardener or home gardenerwill testify, who has been engaged in this line of work for anylength of time.
Vegetable growing . tted manure is applied in the spring just beforeplowing, or in some cases, is put on after breaking and workedinto the soil. Partially decayed manure is applied in theautumn as a top dressing, and plowed under at that seasonof the year. The amount to use varies from 40 to 100 tonsper acre, depending upon the fertility of the land, and therottenness pf the manure. These amounts may seemexcessive to those accustomed to general farming, but theyare not too high, as any truck gardener or home gardenerwill testify, who has been engaged in this line of work for anylength of time. The manure spreader is the best tool for 102 FITTING THE SOIL distril)uting manure on the land, but any method that willput it on evenly and finely divided will give good results. Animal manures are the cheapest and best form of fertilizerto use in connection with the home garden. Only smallamounts of commercial fertilizers will prove practicable, aslong as a sufficient quantity of well-rotted manure can Fig. 70.—Well-rotted animal manures are especially desirable for fertiliz-ing the garden; apply just before the land is plowed, at the rate of about50 tons per acre if thoroughly rotted. Commercial Fertilizers.—Commercial fertilizers are soldon the market in a concentrated form. They are put up indifferent combinations and strengths, supposedly adapted tothe needs of different crops on different soils. A completefertilizer is one containing the three essential plant-foodelements: nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. Anincomplete fertilizer contains one or two of the aboveelements, but not all three. In most states commercialfertilizers are sold under a guaranteed analysis tag, furnishedby the State chemist, whose office it is to test all brands offertilizers sold under his jurisdiction, and to determine ifthey are up to the standards claimed for them by the manu-facturer. If the gardener desires he may purchase therequired elements in their original form, and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectvegetablegardening
