In preparing and enriching the soil, and especially in subsequent cultivation, concentrated fertilizers are very useful and often essential. In dealing with this subject, however, I think we tread upon uncertain ground. There is a great deal of apparent accuracy of figures and analyses, carried carefully into decimals, but a wonderful deal of vagueness, uncertainty, and contradiction in the experiences and minds of cultivators.

It is well known that many commercial fertilizers are scandalously adulterated, and those who have suffered from frauds are hostile to the entire class. In their strong prejudice, they will neither discriminate nor investigate. There are others who associate everything having a chemical sound with "book farming," and therefore dismiss the whole subject with a sniff of contempt. This clique of horticulturists is rapidly diminishing, however, for the fruit grower who does not read is like the lawyer who tries to practice with barely a knowledge of the few laws revealed by a limited experience. In contrast, there are others who read and theorize too exclusively, and are inclined to assert that concentrated fertilizers supersede all others. They scout the muck swamp, the compost heap, and even the barnyard, as old-fashioned, cumbrous methods of bringing to the soil, in tons of useless matter, the essentials which they can deliver in a few sacks or barrels. On paper, they are scientific and accurate. The crop you wish to raise has constituents in certain proportions. Supply these, they say, and you have the chemical compound, or crop. A field or garden, however, is not a sheet of blank paper, but a combination at which nature has been at work, and left full of obscurities. The results which the agricultural chemist predicted so confidently do not always follow, as they ought. Nature is often very indifferent to learned authorities.

There is yet another class—a large one, too—who regard these fertilizers as they do the drugs of an apothecary. They occasionally give their land a dose of them as they take medicine themselves, when indisposed or imagining themselves so. In either case there is almost entire ignorance of the nature of the compound or of definite reasons for its usefulness. Both the man and the field were "run down," and some one said that this, that, or the other thing was good. Therefore it was tried. Such haphazard action is certainly not the surest method of securing health or fertility.

In no other department of horticulture is there more room for common-sense, accurate knowledge, skill, and good management, than in the use of all kinds of fertilizers, and, in my judgment, close and continued observation is worth volumes of theory. The proper enrichment of the soil is the very cornerstone of success, and more fail at this point than at any other. While I do not believe that accurate and complete directions for the treatment of every soil can be written, it is undoubtedly true that certain correct principles can be laid down, and information, suggestion, and records of experience given which will be very useful. With such data to start with, the intelligent cultivator can work out the problem of success in the peculiar conditions of his own farm or garden.

It must be true that land designed for strawberries requires those constituents which are shown to compose the plant and fruit, and that the presence of each one in the soil should be in proportion to the demand for it. It is also equally plain that the supply of these essential elements should be kept up in continued cultivation. Therefore, the question naturally arises, what are strawberry plants and fruit made of? Modern wine, we know, can be made without any grape juice whatever, but as Nature compounds strawberries in the open sunlight, instead of in back rooms and cellars, she insists on all the proper ingredients before she will form the required combination.

"The Country Gentleman" gives a very interesting letter from Prof. S. W. Johnson, of the Connecticut Experiment Station, containing the following careful analysis made by J. Isidore Pierre, a French writer. "Pierre," says the professor, "gives a statement of the composition, exclusive of water, of the total yield per hectare of fruit, taken up to June 30, and of leaves, stems and runners, taken up to the middle of August. These results, calculated in pounds per acre, are the following (the plants contained 62.3 per cent of water and fruit 90 per cent):

Composition of the water-free strawberry crop (except roots), at the middle of August, in pounds per acre, according to Pierre:

Plants Fruits Totals
Organic matter, exclusive of nitrogen 4268.4 1053.5 5321.9
Nitrogen 88.5 16.0 104.5
Silica, iron and manganese oxides 43.3 1.5/3.8 48.6
Phosphoric acid 35.3 5.4 40.7
Lime 102.7 7.9 110.6
Magnesia 16.1 .7 16.8
Potash 89.1 19.7 108.8
Soda 6.4 .9 7.3
Other matters 120.9 8.8 129.7

Dry substance 4770.7 1118.2 5888.9"

These are the constituents that, to start with, must be in the soil, and which must be kept there. This array of what to many are but obscure chemicals need not cause misgivings, since in most instances nature has stored them in the virgin soil in abundant proportions. Even in well-worn, long cultivated fields, some of them may exist in sufficient quantity. Therefore, buying a special fertilizer is often like carrying coals to Newcastle. Useless expenditure may be incurred, also, by supplying some, but not all, of the essential ingredients. A farmer applied six hundred pounds of superphosphate to a plat of corn-land, and three hundred pounds to an adjacent plat wherein the conditions were the same. The yield of the first plat was scarcely in excess of that of the second, and in neither case was there a sufficient increase to repay for the fertilizer. It does not follow that the man used an adulterated and worthless article. Analysis shows that corn needs nitrogen and potash in large proportions; and if these had been employed with the superphosphate, the result probably would have been very different. Superphosphate contains nitrogen, but not in sufficient degree. These considerations bring us to the sound conclusion that in enriching our land it would be wise to use complete fertilizers as far as possible; that is, manures containing all, or nearly all, the essential ingredients of the strawberry plant and fruit. If we could always know just what elements are lacking in our soils, we could merely supply these; but frequent analyses are expensive, and often misleading, at best. The safest plan is always to keep within reach of the plants the food we know they require, and the roots, with unerring instinct, will attend to the proportions. Hence the value of barnyard manure in the estimation of plain common-sense. A sensible writer has clearly shown that from twenty-three cows and five horses, if proper absorbents are used, $5.87 worth of nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid can be obtained every twenty-four hours, estimating these vitally important elements of plant-food at their wholesale valuation. In addition, there are the other constituents of the yard manure which, if not so valuable, are still very useful. To permit the waste of any fertilizer that can be saved or made upon our places, and then buy the same thing with the chance of being cheated, is thus shown to be wretched economy. Commercial fertilizers can never supersede the compost heap, into which should go everything which will enable us to place in the soil organic matter and the other elements that were given in the analysis; and if all the sewage and waste of the dwelling and the products of the stable, stys and poultry-house were well composted with muck, sod, leaves, or even common earth, and used liberally, magnificent and continued crops of strawberries could be raised from nearly all soils.

In many instances, however, home-made composts are wholly inadequate to supply the need, and stable manures are too costly or not to be obtained. The fruit grower should then go to those manufacturers of fertilizers who have the best reputation, and who give the best guarantees against deception. There are perfectly honest dealers, and it is by far the cheapest in the end to pay them their price for a genuine article. If such concentrated agents are used in connection with a green crop like clover, land can be made, and kept productive continuously. In the use of commercial fertilizers, there should be a constant and intelligent effort to keep up a supply of all the essential ingredients. Wood-ashes is a specific for strawberries. I have never found any one thing so good, and yet it is substantially but one thing, potash, and I should remember that the plant also requires nitrogen, which guano, or some form of animal manure, would furnish; lime, which is best applied to the strawberry in the form of bone meal, etc. The essential phosphoric acid is furnished in bone meal, the superphosphates, and also in wood-ashes. By referring to an analysis of the ash of red clover, it will be found to contain nearly everything that the strawberry requires.

The man who reads, observes, and experiments carefully, will find that he can accomplish much with lime and salt. If one has land full of vegetable or organic matter, an application of lime will render this matter fit for plant food, and the lime itself, in the course of a year or less, will be rendered harmless in the process. It also sweetens and lightens heavy, sour land, and thus, in time renders it better adapted to the strawberry; but lime should not be applied directly, in any considerable quantity, to strawberry plants, nor should it be used on very light soils deficient in vegetable matter. The judicious use of salt in small quantities will, I think, prove very beneficial, especially on light upland. It tends to prevent injury from drought, and to clear the land of the larvae of insects. I am inclined to think that much can be accomplished with this agent, and hope to make some careful experiments with it. But it should be used very cautiously, or it will check or destroy growth.

I have received a letter from Mr. J. H. Hale, of South Glastonbury, Conn., that is such a clear and interesting record of experience on this subject that I am led to give it almost entire:

"We have always used Peruvian guano, fish scrap, and ground bone to some extent, but until the past five years have depended mainly upon stable manure brought from New York city on boats, using about fifteen cords per acre yearly, and always with satisfactory results, the only objection being the expense. The price ranged from $8 to $12 per cord, or on an average of $150 per acre; and in trying to reduce this expense we commenced testing different fertilizers, planting, in 1874, one acre of strawberries manured with two tons of fish scrap, at $20 per ton, and one hundred bushels of unleached wood-ashes, at 30 cents per bushel; making a total cost of $70. The result was a strong, rapid growth of plants early in the summer, but in September and October they began to show signs of not having plant food enough, and then we saw our mistake in using fish in place of bone, or some other slow-acting fertilizer that the plants could not have taken up so greedily early in the summer, but would have had to feed on slowly all through the season. The fruit crop the following year, as might have been expected, was not a success, being only about half a crop. In 1875, we planted another acre, using one ton of ground bone and one hundred bushels of wood-ashes, at a total cost of $73; the result was a fine, even growth of plants all through the season, and a perfect crop of fruit the following year, fully equal to that on adjoining acres that had been manured with stable manure at a cost of $150 per acre, to say nothing of the carting of such a great bulk of manure. In the spring of 1876, being so well pleased with the appearance of our one acre manured with bone and ashes, we planned to fertilize all of our fruits in the same way. Then the question arose, where were we to get the ashes? We could buy enough for an acre or two, but not enough for our whole farm. What were we to do? Potash we must have, as that is the leading element of plant food required by small fruits of all kinds. We found we must look to the German potash salts for what we wanted, and we therefore bought several tons of High Grade (80 per cent) muriate of potash at $40 per ton, using 1,000 pounds per acre, and one ton of bone at $35, making a total cost of only $55 per acre. The plants did not grow quite as well early in the season as those on the fields where ashes were used, but later in the season they made a very fine growth, and at fruiting time, in 1877, we harvested a full and abundant crop of strawberries and raspberries. Since that time we have used nothing but ground bone and muriate of potash to manure all of our berry fields with, and continue to get fully as satisfactory results as in former years, when we depended upon stable manure at more than double the cost per acre. Some parties who have been looking into the matter suggest that possibly our satisfactory results are owing not so much to the fertilizers as to the liberal supply of stable manure used in former years. Yet the past season we picked 143 bushels of Charles Downings per acre, from a field manured with bone and potash, so poor and worn-out that two years before it would only produce six bushels of rye per acre. That land had no stable manure on it, and if it was not the bone and potash that furnished food for the berries, we would like to know what it was. The one mistake we have made is, I think, in not using six or eight hundred pounds of fish scrap or guano, and only 1,500 pounds of bone. The fish or guano, being such quick-acting fertilizers, would give the plants a much better start early in the season than would be the case if only the bone and potash were used. We shall try it the coming spring. In applying the potash great care should be taken to have it thoroughly incorporated with the soil, it being only about 55 per cent actual potash; the balance, being largely composed of salt, would, of course, kill the roots of young plants if brought directly in contact with them. In fields where we have used the potash, we have been troubled with white grubs only to a very limited extent, while portions of the same field where stable manure had been used were badly infested with them, and while I do not think salt will drive them ail out of the soil, I do believe it will do so to some extent. Besides the fertilizers I have named, we have in the past six years experimented in a small way with many others. Among them Stockbridge's strawberry manure and Mapes' fruit and vine manures, but have never had as good returns for the money invested as from the bone and potash; and yet, while they have proved of such great value to us, I would not advise you or any one to give up stable manure for them if you can get it at the same cost per acre, but if you cannot, then I say try bone dust and potash in a small way, until you learn just what your soil wants, and then supply it, whether it be 500, 1,000, or 2,000 pounds per acre."

Mr. Hale adds:

"The most of our soil is a sandy loam. We have some heavy loam and a few acres of clay gravel, and we have always had good results from the use of bone and potash on all of these soils.

"We have never used lime on our berry fields at the time of planting, and yet, as you know, all of our New England soils are deficient in lime. We use some indirectly, as we grow clover to plow under, and usually give at that time a good dressing of lime. As we try to have a new clover field every year, we get all around the farm in six or eight years, and we therefore get a dressing of lime all around once in that time, and have never been able to see any ill effects from it. In fact, we believe it a positive benefit in helping to keep down sorrel, if nothing more."

There would be very few worn-out farms, or poverty-stricken farmers, if all followed the example of the Hale brothers.

The value of potash and bone meal is thus clearly shown, but the latter does not contain nitrogen in sufficient quantity. I think Mr. Hale is correct in the opinion that he can secure better results by using at the same time some nitrogenous manure, like fish scrap, guano, etc. If he had heavy, cold, clay land to deal with, it is possible that he might find the stable manure the cheapest and best in the long run, even at its increased cost.

Mr. W. L. Ferris, of Poughkeepsie, writes to me that he has found great advantage in the use of the Mapes & Stockbridge special fertilizers. "My experience," he says, "is only as to strawberries, and on them I would say that the result of applying equal values of manure—stable and commercial—as to cost, would be from ten to twenty-five per cent in favor of the commercial, as a stimulant to apply in the spring, or, in small quantities, to plants first starting. This does not apply to the first preparation of the ground. In this direction I propose to experiment. I have heretofore applied fertilizers early in spring by hand, distributing it along the rows."

Records of varying experiences, and the discussion of commercial fertilizers, might be continued indefinitely, but enough has been said, I think, to suggest to each cultivator unacquainted with the subject in what directions he should seek success. If I were asked what is the one special manure in which the strawberry especially delights, I should answer unhesitatingly, the well decayed and composted production of the cow-stable, and if the reader had seen Mr. Durand's beds of the Great American variety in bearing, after being enriched with this material, he would be well satisfied to use it when it could be obtained. The vines of even this fastidious berry, that falters and fails in most soils, averaged one foot in height, and were loaded with enormous fruit. The subject may be summed up by an extract from a letter of Mr. Alexander Hyde to the "New York Times":

"Nitrates, phosphates, and ammonia are good fertilizers, and just the chemicals which most lands need, but plants require a good bed as well as good food. The physical condition of the soil, as well as the chemical, must receive attention; and we know of nothing superior to a well-made compost for furnishing both the chemical and physical conditions necessary for the development of our crops."