fertilizer was thoroughly worked into the soil and the soil well
stirred to the depth of ten inches or more.

 HOW TO USE FERTILIZER.

 In using compost it should be well rotted before applying,
 as the tomato plant wants a quick-acting fertilizer. Very often
 the fertilizer is used in several applications. Many tests of this
 procedure have been made. The average of over seventy differ-
 ent tests in different years shows that the largest crop of early
 tomatoes is obtained by applying the normal amount of fertilizer
 at one time. That is, the plant produces a heavier crop of the
 earliest pickings--the pickings that bring the money. Then it
 would seem that if one has only a limited amount of fertilizer it
 will pay better to apply it at one time. To use the fertilizer
 along, a small amount at a time, or apply at different times, has,
 in some cases, produced more fruit in the end, but in most cases
 it did not do this. The ground should be in a good state of cul-
 tivation, and the fertilizer thoroughly worked in and well cov-
 ered. The plant should not be in direct contact with the fertil-
 izer, nor should the fertilizer be in a bunch where the plant is to
 stand. One need not be alarmed if most of the fertilizer is six
 inches away. The plant will find it and do the better for having
 to go a little way to it, and for having to sort it from among the
 sand.
 HOW TO TEST YOUR SOIL
 All parts of our State are not alike in the demands of a fertilizer.
*It has been shown clearly by some that their soildoes not need pot-
ash as a fertilizer. The method of proving this is as simple as it is
conclusive. Three or four rows across the field, representing the
average soil, are treated with a fertilizer that has no potash, as
shown by the label, but in other respects is just as the other fer-
tilizer used. Now if these four rows prove to be as good, under
the same culture, as the remainder of the field, then it is clear
that the potash does no good there. Then, again, this same mode
of procedure could be used to test the need of phosphoric acid or
of nitrogen. tThere are soils that have a sufficient amount of the
 *Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc., Pensacola meeting.
 tFor a full discussion of this point, see Bulletin 20 of this section; also Florida
CiMez for Dec.-, 1893.