Holding and Ina'easing Fertility of Soil 



treatment and if this is supplemented with such 

 chemical elements as the soil may seem to be 

 particularly in need of the fertihty of the soil 

 will be assured. 



The most economical and practical treatment 

 of the soil would be through the analysis of the 

 soil by a soil chemist ; this can readily be done by 

 sending a sample of the soil to yom* state agri- 

 cultural college which will analyze and advise 

 as to its requirements, or a sample can be given 

 to your county agent who will attend to it and 

 advise you. In this way one works intelligently 

 and wastes neither time nor money in experiments 

 with no definite aim. 



^^ot all of the fourteen different chemical el- 

 ements required for plant food need to be arti- 

 ficially supplied; there are but three important 

 elements which we need to consider in this con- 

 nection — nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash 

 and only one of these may be lacking; a soil anal- 

 ysis will indicate which one. Nitrogen is the 

 most expensive of the three; it is available, com- 

 mercially, in three forms — organic nitrogen, 

 ammonia and nitrates. The organic nitrogen is 



73 



