ps it will be well for the
farmer to experiment to determine the best and most economical
fertilizer for his soil, setting aside five to ten plots of 1 to 4
square rods each and apply nitrate of soda, muriate of potash, wood,
ashes, and phosphate alone and in different combinations. The results
will suggest the combination which he can use to best advantage. In the
majority of cases, however, where the soil is reasonably rich,
expenditures for putting the ground in the best possible state of tilth
will give larger returns than those for manures in excess of that which
the land has usually received in the regular rotation for ordinary farm
crops.

=For the home garden.=--Usually a dressing of wood ashes up to a rate of
1 bushel to the square rod, well worked into the soil before the plants
are set, and occasionally watering with liquid manure, will generally
give the best returns of any special fertilization, it being assumed
that the garden has been well enriched with stable manure.

=Tomatoes under glass.=--Some growers recommend frequent waterings with
liquid manure; others a surface dressing of sheep manure; still others a
mulch of moderately well decayed stable manure. Plants growing under
glass, particularly in pots or boxes, seem to be benefitted by so heavy
a dressing that if applied to plants growing outside it would be likely
to give excessive growth of vine with but little fruit.

CHAPTER VIII

Preparation of the Soil

The proper preparation of the soil before setting the plants is one of
the most essential points in successful tomato culture. The soil should
be put into the best possible physical condition and to the greatest
practicable depth. How this can be best accomplished will vary greatly
with different soils and the facilities at the command of the planter.
My practice on a heavy, dry soil is to plow shallow as early in the
spring as the ground is fit to work, and then work and re-work the
surface so as to make it as fine as possible.

If I am to use any manure which is at all coarse, it is well worked in
at this time. A week or 10 days before I expect to set the plants I
again plow, and to as great a depth as practicable, without turning up
much of the sub-soil, and if this has not been done within two years,
follow in the furrows with a sub-soil plow which loosens, but does not
bring the sub-soil to the surface. Then I work and re-work the surface,
at the same time working in any dres