ADAPTATION ©*• MANURES TO CROPS ^3 



elements of food which the crop it is wished to grow 

 has most difficulty in obtaining. Thus, in a large 

 majority of cases, a dressing of nitrate of sodium and 

 phosphates will ensure a full crop of wheat, barley, or 

 oats, and in many cases nitrate of sodium alone will 

 prove very effective. These cereal crops generally find 

 the supply of nitrates in the soil insufficient for their 

 full growth, and the supply of phosphates more or less 

 inadequate ; but in a majority of cases they are well 

 able to obtain a sufficient supply of potash and many 

 other essential elements of plant food. We are thus 

 able, by supplying one or two constituents of the crop, 

 to obtain a luxuriant harvest. In the same way 

 nitrate of sodium employed alone will, in most cases, 

 produce a large crop of mangels ; superphosphate alone, 

 a large crop of turnips ; while potassium salts alone 

 may be strikingly effective with pasture and clovers. 



This special manuring for each crop is no strain on 

 the capabilities of the soil if a rotation of crops be 

 followed. If superphosphate is applied for the turnips, 

 potassium salts for the seeds, and a nitrogenous manure 

 for the cereal crops, the more important elements of 

 plant food contained in the soil will not be diminished 

 at the end of the rotation. At the same time the most 

 economic result will have been obtained from the 

 manures employed, for each manure will have been 

 supplied to that particular crop with which it yields 

 its most remunerative return. 



It is doubtless possible by means of rotations 

 manured on the above principles to farm successfully 

 with the sale of all the crops produced, and without 

 the use of farmyard manure ; this is possible at least 

 BO long as artificial manures can be obtained at a low 



