PREFACE 



This is the eleventh edition of Food for Plants and, 

 after repeated and extended revisions, the work has 

 come to have a standard place in our American farm 

 literature. It now includes results of original investi- 

 gations and experiments on Highlands Experimental 

 Farms. 



The main purpose of all the within recorded ex- 

 periments has been to demonstrate the value of Nitrate 

 of Soda in the scheme of rational fertilization on a 

 practical scale. The investigations have covered more 

 particularly the questions of amount of Nitrate and 

 other chemicals to be employed, time of application 

 for most profitable results and practical methods for 

 the preparation of grass lands and the harvesting of the 

 hay crop. 



These recorded experiments conclude the field 

 work intended as demonstrations in farm practice of 

 what may be' accomplished by the rational use of 

 Nitrate of Soda under average farm conditions in a 

 typical dairy section of New York State. 



The earlier results have appeared from time to 

 time in former editions of "Food for Plants," "Grass 

 Growing for Profit," and "Growing Timothy Hay for 

 Market," all practical farm books of value, based on 

 actual scientific and sound practical data. Studies 

 having been made of methods of crop growing, from 

 the preparation of the land to handling and marketing 

 the crops, it is believed that these volumes have unique 

 and unusual value. 



WILLIAM S. MYERS. 



