“I see,” said the Deacon, “that 550 lbs. of nitrate of soda alone, gave an increase of 14½ tons per acre. And the following year, on the same land, it gave an increase of 13½ tons; and the next year, on the same land, over 9 tons.”
“Yes,” said I, “the first three years of the experiments (1871-2-3), 550 lbs. of nitrate of soda alone, applied every year, gave an average yield of 19¼ tons of bulbs per acre. During the same three years, the plot dressed with 14 tons of barnyard-manure, gave an average yield of 16¼ tons. But now mark. The next year (1874) all the plots were left without any manure, and the plot which had been previously dressed with nitrate of soda, alone, fell off to 3 tons per acre, while the plot which had been previously manured with barnyard-manure, produced 10¾ tons per acre.”
“Good,” said the Deacon, “there is nothing like manure.”
MANURES FOR CABBAGE, PARSNIPS, CARROTS, LETTUCE, ONIONS, ETC.
I class these plants together, because, though differing widely in many respects, they have one feature in common. They are all artificial productions.
A distinguished amateur horticulturist once said to me, “I do not see why it is I have so much trouble with lettuce. My land is rich, and the lettuce grow well, but do not head. They have a tendency to run up to seed, and soon get tough and bitter.”
I advised him to raise his own seed from the best plants—and especially to reject all plants that showed any tendency to go prematurely to seed. Furthermore, I told him I thought if he would sow a little superphosphate of lime with the seed, it would greatly stimulate the early growth of the lettuce.
As I have said before, superphosphate, when drilled in with the seed, has a wonderful effect in developing the root-growth of the young plants of turnips, and I thought it would have the same effect on lettuce, cabbage, cauliflowers, etc.
“But,” said he, “it is not roots that I want, but heads.”
“Exactly,” said I, “you do not want the plants to follow out their natural disposition and run up to seed. You want to induce them to throw out a great abundance of tender leaves. In other words, you want them to ‘head.’ Just as in the turnip, you do not want them to run up to seed, but to produce an unnatural development of ‘bulb.’”