Fo d f ? r increase in the consumption of Nitrate 



giants its Use is i , m 



Increasing. amon g growers of tobacco, fiber plants, 

 sugar beets, the hop, grape, grass and 

 small fruits, has been most notable of late. The ele- 

 ment of plant food first exhausted in soils is Nitrogen, 

 and in many cases a marked increase in crop is obtained 

 through Top-Dressing of Nitrate alone. "Complete" 

 fertilizers are generally rather low in Nitrogen, and 

 most expensive, and Nitrate may be wisely used to 

 supplement them, as it is practically the cheapest form 

 of plant food Nitrogen. 



By "complete fertilizers," is meant 

 "Complete fertilizers containing Nitrogen, phos- 



"K^p e hates^ d P lloric acid and P tasn ' These fertil - 

 the Most Expen- i zers are often called "phosphates," and 

 sive Plant Food, people have fallen into the habit of call- 

 ing any commercial fertilizer a "phos- 

 phate," whether it contains phosphate or not. Many 

 so-called "complete fertilizers" are merely low grade 

 acid phosphates with insignificant amounts of the other 

 essential plant foods. They are unprofitable and ill 

 balanced rations for all crops. 



The value of these "phosphates," no matter how 

 high sounding their names, is usually mostly in phos- 

 phoric acid and potash. 



The Nitrogen contained in these "complete fer- 

 tilizers" is often in a form that is neither available 

 nor useful to the plants until it has become converted 

 into Nitrate. The time required to do this varies from 

 a few days to a few years, according to the temperature 

 of the soil and the kind and condition of the material 

 used. 



Statistics gathered by the Experiment Stations 

 show that many millions of dollars are spent annually 

 in the United States for "complete fertilizers." Con- 

 sidering that the average "complete fertilizer" costs 25 

 per cent, more than it is worth, it is -evident that 

 farmers pay immensely more for their fertilizers than 

 they get value in return. And this state of things is 

 the same all over the country. The farmers of this 

 country are paying out many millions of dollars 

 annually to the manufacturers of "complete fertilizers," 



