1696 Repoet of Farmers' Institutes 



Where animal linsbandrj is practiced and the mannres are well 

 preserved and applied, the farmer should look to the farm manures 

 and to legimiinous plants for his supply of nitrogen, which is the 

 most expensive part of plant food. The potash, which is found in 

 the land in very liberal quantities, is made available by the rotting 

 organic matter and by the use of lime and acid phosphate ; so, by 

 the use of the two last named, both of vrhich are produced in this 

 country and are comparatively cheap, one may usually supply all 

 the available plant food necessary to grow maximum crops on 

 average soils. Where animal husbandry is not practiced the pur- 

 chase of nitrogen seems more necessarv. 



The amount of commercial fertilizer which will prove most prof- 

 italile will depend, to some extent, upon the crop to be grown. For 

 example, if 200 bushels of potatoes are grown on an acre of land 

 at fifty cents a bushel we have an ineome of $100, but if 50 bush- 

 els of oats were grown on the acre at fifty cents a bushel, and allow- 

 ing one ton of straw at $10, we have an income of only $35, which 

 is less than one half the amount received when potatoes were gro^vn. 

 One can readily see that the farmer can, other things being equal, 

 well afford to use a much larger amount of commercial fertilizer 

 on potatoes than would be profitable on oats. 



It is important for spring planted crops that only fertilizers 

 which contain readily available materials be used. To be of the 

 greatest benefit the commercial fertilizer should be made from 

 materials such as nitrate of soda, acid phosphate, and muriate 

 or sulphate of potash, each of which goes quickly into solution in 

 the soil waters, and give the plant a quick start. Later in the sea- 

 son, after the soil has become warm and the decaying organic mat- 

 ter has made latent plant food in the soil available, the plant will 

 derive its groAvth from that source. When the crop is a special 

 one, or when the plant food must be purchased for the entire sea- 

 son, the use of dried blood, cotton-seed meal or other like materials, 

 which must decay before the plant food becomes available, may be 

 most economical as a partial source of nitrogen. 



As a rule nitrate of soda should be used only on plants just 

 starting to grow or those not making sufficient growth. Generally 

 it will not pay to use it on a leguminous plant that is well estab- 

 lished and has the nodules on the roots, but, when starting such 



