Page 4 



HOW TO FERTILIZE 



Every farmer knows that plants need 

 Food as much as cattle. He knows, too. 

 that plants cannot get all the Food they 

 need out of the ground alone. He must 

 supply them with certain Foods himself, 

 or they will not thrive and bear their full 

 yield of fruit. Exactly as he supplies hay 

 and oats to his horse, so he must supply 

 Nitrogen and phosphate to his plants. 

 He may buy these in the open market 

 exactly as he does his hay or his oats, or 

 he can buy them in combination. More- 

 over, there is no secret value in the "com- 

 plete fertilizer," it is nothing more nor less 

 than the ingredients combined and sold at 

 a higher price. Nitrogen is by far the 

 most expensive as well as effective of plant 

 foods, and it will pay the farmer well to 

 stop and think before he buys it in this 

 combination form or waits season after 

 season for legume nitrogen, or organic 

 nitrogen to become available. 



These compounds generally averaging 

 8-2-2 do not supply what nature requires, 

 for the crops take out more 

 nearly the equivalent of a 

 2-4-3; that is why we can in 

 most CEises and in most soils 

 use Nitrate alone as a straight 

 top dressing, and the earlier 

 the better. 



Translated into Commercial 

 Fertilizer terms, the compari- 

 son is as follows: 



BETTER FRUIT 



A GREAT SAVING 



In view of these facts it seems extra- 

 ordinary that farmers should continue to 

 purchase their Nitrogen in compounded 

 form in a ready-mixed fertilizer, when 

 they can procure it much cheaper, and 

 ready for the plants' immediate use, in 

 the form of Nitrate of Soda. 



Nitrogen is often in a form which is not 

 available as food for the plants, for it must 

 first be converted into Nitrate. The time 

 required to do this varies from a few days 

 to a few years, according to the tempera- 

 ture of the soil and the kind and condition 

 of the materials used. 



It must be recognized that the grower 

 should have a chance to derive some profit 

 from the use of a fertilizer, and wise buy- 

 ing is a prerequisite to successful use. 



HOW IT HELPS CROPS 



If a young pig or a young calf does not 

 have an abundance of the right kind of 

 feed when it is young, it becomes stunted 



March 



need a steady, even growth, are greatly 

 benefited by Nitrate of Soda, which can 

 be furnished all ready for digestion when 

 the plants require it. 



The highest agricultural authorities have 

 established by careful experimentation 

 that 100 pounds per acre of Nitrate of 

 Soda applied to crops has produced the 

 increased* yields tabulated as follows: 



Apples 100 bushels. 



Barley 400 lbs. 



Corn 280 " 



Oats 400 " 



Rye 300 " 



Wheat 300 " 



Potatoes 3,600 " Tubers. 



Hay. upwards of 1.000 " Barn cured. 



Cotton 500 " Seed cotton 



Sugar Beets 4.000 " Tubers. 



rieets 4,900 " 



.Sweet Potatoes 3.900 " 



Cabbages 6,100 pounds. 



Carrots 7,800 pounds. 



Turnips 37 per cent. 



-Strawberries 200 quarts. 



Onions 1,800 pounds. 



Asparagus 100 bunches. 



Tomatoes 100 baskets. 



Celery 30 per cent. 



Hops 100 pounds. 



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Why Europe Makes Bigger Crops Than the United States 



Average Production of European 

 Crops is as foliows: 



Average Production of American 

 Crops Is as follows: 



BEST AND CHEAPEST 

 NITROGEN 



The cheapest and most prac- 

 tical form in which to furnish 

 Nitrogen to plants is Nitrate 

 of Soda. In the rainless re- 

 gion of Chile are stored away 

 vast quantities of Nitrogen in 

 what are known as Nitrates — ■ 

 the only form in which Nitro- 

 gen can be utilized by plants. 

 The Nitrogen which exists in 

 organic, vegetable or animal 

 matter — that is, roots, stems, dead leaves, 

 weeds, leather, tankage, dried blood — and 

 also Nitrogen in the form of Ammonia 

 salts, must first be changed to Nitrate 

 before it can be taken up by plants. This 

 change is dependent upon conditions of 

 weather. If the season be backward or 

 there be prolonged drought, this change 

 may be so retarded as to deprive the plant 

 altogether of Nitrate Food at the very 

 time it needs it most; moreover. Nitrogen 

 in the form of Ammonia salts leaves acid 

 residues in the soil. Nitrate of Soda, on 

 the other hand, is entirely independent of 

 weather and leaves the soil sweet. It is 

 immediately available under all circum- 

 stances, for it is readily soluble, and as 

 soon as it comes within reach of the roots 

 of plants it is taken up by them. It can, 

 therefore, readily be seen that the prac- 

 tical value of various forms of Nitrogen 

 ranges from nothing at all, where condi- 

 tions of temperature or soil prevent Nitra- 

 tion, to 100 per cent as Nitrate of Soda, 

 where Nitration has already completely 

 taken place. Moreover, the process of 

 transforming the Nitrogen of cotton seed 

 meal, dried fish, dried blood, tankage, 

 and other Nitrogenous constituents Into 

 Nitrate is very wasteful, for much valu- 

 able Nitrogen is lost in the process, as well 

 as by natural oxidation. Official soil ex- 

 periments have shown that 100 pounds of 

 Nitrogen In these organic forms has 

 only about one-half to three-fourths the 

 manurial value of 100 pounds of Nitrogen 

 in its nitrated form of Nitrate of Soda. 



Psr Act*© 



Wheat 33 bushels 



Oats 45 



Potatoes 199.84 " 



Cotton in Egypt 400 pounds 



Europe uses a Home-Mixed 

 Nitrate Fertilizer containing 8 

 per cent of Phosphoric Acid 

 and 4'/a per cent of Nitrate 

 Nitrogen. 



Per Acre 



Wheat 14 bushels 



Oats 40 



Potatoes 97.15 " 



Cotton 185 pounds 



Nitrate of Soda is a plant 

 tonic, and an energizer; it is 

 not a stimulant in any sense of 

 the word. 



It may be used alone with- 

 out other fertilizers, as a top 

 dressing, at the rate of 100 

 pounds to the acre. 



America uses a Fertiliyer 

 containing 8 per cent of Phos- 

 phoric Acid and 2 per cent of 

 Nitrogen which is mostly not 

 readily available. 



The difference in yields is largely due to larger amount of 

 Nitrate Nitrogen used in Europe per acre as Nitrate of Soda. 

 Our small American acre yields are due to failure to appreciate 

 this necessity. 



Write for "What Chilean Nitrate Has Done in the 

 Farmer's Own Hands." 



CHILEAN NITRATE C0MMITTEE,25 Madison Ave., New York 



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in growth, and never recovers fully, no 

 matter how judiciously it is afterwards 

 fed. The intelligent cultivator has learned 

 that this holds good in the feeding of 

 plants. Nitrogen is the element which 

 enters most largely into the building up of 

 the plant itself — roots, stems and leaves. 

 Most plants need to take up the greater 

 part of their Nitrogen during the early 

 stages of their growth, as in oats. It is 

 plain, therefore, that the cultivator cannot 

 afford to overlook Nitrate, and thus endan- 

 ger the chances of his crops, which must 

 have Nitrogen in a form the growing 

 plants can use. The presence of Nitrate 

 at the outset enables the plant to get its 

 food when it needs it most, and develops a 

 vigorous growth of roots, leaves and stems 

 capable of withstanding the scorching rays 

 of the sun or sudden changes of tempera- 

 ture, disease, or the attacks of parasites. 

 It is then able to mature properly. With- 

 out Nitrate present, the young plant will 

 fail to attain stem and leaf growth suffi- 

 cient to mature its fruit or grain. Why 

 take chances with makeshifts or substi- 

 tutes when the real thing is 100 per cent 

 effective? 



Nitrate of Soda is of high value for 

 early crops, such as peas, corn, beets, cab- 

 bage, where rapid maturity Is desirable. 

 It is a special help to hay, grain, rye, 

 wheat, timothy, cereals and orchards, all 

 of which are unable to obtain sufficient 

 Nitrogen from the soil just when they 

 need it. It is a great specific in the pro- 

 duction of sugar beets, potatoes, cotton, 

 cane and apples, or other fruits. 



Small fruits, such as blackberries, cur- 

 rants, raspberries and gooseberries, which 



I HOW TO USE 



I NITRATE 



I Recent experience suggests 

 I that Nitrate may be applied as 

 I a top dressing to best advan- 

 I tage as soon as growth starts 

 I in the Spring, or even better, 

 I before seeding or planting. 

 I Generally in rainless or very 

 I dry countries staple crops root 

 I very deep in search of water 

 I and nourishment. Since there 

 i is little or no surface water to 

 I render plant foods available 

 I even when present. Nitrate 

 I of Soda should be thoroughly 

 cultivated in, as should other 

 fertilizers, so that they may 

 may properly nourish the plant roots of 

 the seeded and cultivated crops during the 

 growing season. Most fertilizers should 

 not touch the seed. 



Nitrate has no acid residue to leave 

 behind and it will leave nothing deleterious 

 In your soil after using. It will enable 

 you to overcome the effects of droughts 

 and frosts in the shortest possible time 

 and prolong the bearing period of your 

 trees. Nitrate does not have to wait to 

 get busy. 



VALUABLE BOOKS FREE 



Numerous books have been written on 

 the value of Nitrate of Soda In agriculture. 

 These books deal with questions on which 

 progressive farmers cannot afford to form 

 incorrect opinions. 



If you are farming to make money you 

 owe it to yourself to send for the free 

 books which pertain to your crop. If you 

 want to know what farmers have done 

 both in America and Europe, who grow 

 the same crops as you do. these books 

 will tell you. If you have any doubts on 

 how valuable Nitrate of Soda would be to 

 your particular crop, you should get all 

 the available information you possibly can 

 on the subject. 



These booklets are free — write for them, 

 addressing 



DR. WM. S. MYERS 



CHILEAN NITRATE COMMITTEE 



25 Madison Ave., New York 



