FERTILIZING TOBACCO. 5 



small, for Nitrogen they are large, but the greatest demand is 

 for Potash, in fact, greater than that of any other cultivated 

 plant. 



The general rule for practice for tobacco planters to 

 follow may be stated thus: Nitrogen 4 to 6 parts, Potash 

 8 to 15 parts, and Phosphoric Acid i to 3 parts. 



This may be more concisely expressed as follows: 



Ammonia, . . . 4 to 5 per cent. 

 Potash, . . . 8 to 9 per cent. 

 Available Phosphoric Acid, 2 to 4 per cent. 



Commercial fertilizers are valuable as plant food onl) 

 to the extent that they contain Nitrogen, Potash and avail- 

 able Phosphoric Acid, provided always that proper propor- 

 tions of these ingredients are used. An excessive amount 

 of any one of these three plant foods in a fertilizer will not 

 make up the loss caused by the lack of either of the other. 



The sources from which the different forms of plant 

 food are obtained is of the utmost importance in affecting 

 the results. In selecting Potash, Sulphate of Potash should 

 always be applied; that grade known as 96$ Sulphate of 

 Potash would be the best suited for the purpose. The 

 forms of Potash such as Muriate of Potash and Kainit, 

 both of which contain large quantities of chlorine, should 

 never be used for tobacco, as they exert an injurious influ- 

 ence on the burning quality of the leaf. 



To make a fertilizer of the composition recommended, 



