90 Report of the Acting Director and Chemist of the 



The cheapest possible manner in which farmers can provide their 

 crops with nitrogen is by means of such plants as clover. These 

 plants, as previonsly explained, can supply themselves with nitrogen 

 from the air, and can thus store up nitrogen for future use in the 

 soil. Nitrogen supplied in this way can be made, to a considerable 

 degree, to take the place of the nitrogen of commercial fertilizers, 

 and at a greatly diminished cost. By such means the use of the 

 most expensive of fertilizing materials can be greatly diminished 

 and much saving effected. 



Soluble phosphoric acid can in general be more cheaply pur- 

 chased in the form of dissolved rock than in the form of dissolved 

 bone or bone-black. 



Muriate of potash costs less than sulphate, and is, therefore, 

 more economical when its use answers one's purpose. With the 

 exception of a few crops, like tobacco, sugar beets, and potatoes, 

 muriate of potash can nearly always be used to advantage. Potash 

 in the form of carbonate, as found in wood-ashes, is apt to be some- 

 what expensive. When ashes contain .5 per cent, of potash and 2 per 

 cent of phosphoric acid and cost $10 a ton, each pound of potash 

 costs about S cents, while in the form of muriate of sulphate, the 

 cost would be about one-half. It is easily conceivable, however, 

 that on certain soils the use of ashes might prove economical, owing 

 to their indirect action on the soil. The only way of telling with 

 absolute certainty whether ashes will prove more economical than 

 other forms of potash is to make an actual trial. 



In applying fertilizers, bulk is often desirable, but vn jpttrcliamig 

 commercial fertilizers, the object should he to secure as much nitrogen, 

 potash and jphosphoric acid in available forms as possible for one 

 dollar, instead of as many pounds as possible of fertilizer, regard- 

 less of the amount of pi ant food contained in it. This is partic- 

 ulary applicable to mixed fertilizers, which at present form the great 

 bulk of fertilizers sold in this State. Since there is smaller bulk to 

 handle in mixing, a smaller number of packages for holding, and, 

 consequently, less weigth and freight, it is, as a rule, more economi- 

 cal to purchase fertilizers in their more concentrated forms. For 

 illustration, it is more economical to purchase one ton of a high- 

 grade fertilizer than three tons of a low-grade fertilizer, one ton of 

 the former containing the same amount of plant-food contained in 

 three tons of the latter ; because, in making the latter, three times 

 as much labor is involved in mixing the goods, thi-ee times as many 



