e crop of fruit. I find that the amount an acre recommended by
successful growers varies from 40 tons of well-rotted stable manure,
supplemented by 1,000 pounds of complete fertilizer and 1,000 pounds of
unleached ashes, to one of only 300 pounds of potato fertilizer.

In my own experience the largest yield that I can recall was produced on
what would be called rich land, and the application of fertilizer for
the tomato crop was not in excess (unless possibly of potash) of that of
the usual annual dressing. I think that in preparing a soil for
tomatoes, as in selecting social acquaintances, the "new rich" are to be
avoided. A soil which is rich because of judicious manuring and careful
cropping for many years can scarcely be too rich, while one that is made
rich by a single application of fertilizer, no matter how well
proportioned, may give even a smaller yield of fruit because of its
excessive use. Again, the proportions of the various food elements vary
greatly in different locations.

Professor Halstead finds that in his section of New Jersey the liberal
use of nitrate of soda increases the yield and improves the quality,
while in some localities of New York, Ohio, and the West, growers find
that the yield of first-class fruit was actually lessened by its use. In
some sections of the South liberality in the use of phosphates
determines the amount and the quality of the crop, while at other points
it seems to be of little value. In my own experience the liberal
application of potash, particularly in the form of wood ashes, has more
often given good results than the application of any other special
fertilizer.

If called upon to name the exact quantity and kind of manure for
tomatoes, without any knowledge of the soil or its previous condition, I
would say 8 to 10 tons of good stable manure worked into the soil as
late as possible in the fall or during the winter and early spring and
300 to 600 pounds of commercial fertilizer, of such composition as to
furnish 2 per cent. nitrogen, 6 per cent. phosphoric acid and 8 per
cent. potash scattered and worked into the row about the time that the
plants are set. The use of a large proportion of nitrogen tends to rank
growth of vine and soft, watery fruit. The use of a large proportion of
phosphoric acid tends to produce soft fruit with less distinctly acid
flavor; of potash, to smaller growth of vine and firm but more acid
fruit.

I think that even more than with most cro