There are a ereat many sources of Nitrop;en, such as ^0°^ ^or 



' ■ O ' PI an to 



dried fish, cotton-seed meal, dried blood, and tankage. But 



none of these furnish Nitrogen in the Nitrate form in which 5 

 it is taken up by plants. This can only be furnished to 

 plants in the form of Nitrate of Soda. Nitrogen applied in 

 any other form must be first converted into Nitrate before it 

 can be used by plants at all. 



Nitrate of Soda contains the Nitrozen that is necessary 

 for the growth of plants. Nitrate of Soda is the best form 

 in which to furnish Nitrogen to plants. When we say the 

 best form w^e mean the best practical form. Nitrate of 

 Soda not only furnishes Nitrogen in its most available form, 

 but it furnishes it at a lower price than any other source. 



Nitrate of Soda is found in vast quantities 



ar T"u u J rx^"^ ^ ^i r^ y u '^ Nitrate of Soda, 



nil. 1 he beds or Nitrate, or Caliche, 



as it is called in Chili before it is refined, are several thousand 

 feet above the sea, on a desert plain extending for seventy- 

 five miles north and south, and about twenty miles wide, in a 

 rainless region. The surface of the desert is covered with 

 earth or rock, called "costra," which varies from three to ten 

 or more feet in thickness. Under this is found the " Caliche," 

 or crude Nitrate. The layer of "Caliche" is sometimes eight 

 or ten feet thick, but averages about three feet. This 

 "Caliche "contains on the average about 50 per cent, of pure 

 Nitrate of Soda. 



The "Caliche" is refined by boiling in water to dissolve 

 the Nitrate. The hot water is then run off and allowed to 

 cool in tanks, when the Nitrate forms in crystals like com- 

 mon salt. The Nitrate is then placed in bags of about two 

 hundred pounds each and shipped to all parts of the world. 

 Nitrate of Soda, as exported, contains about 15.65 per cent, 

 of Nitrogen, equivalent to 19.00 per cent, of ammonia. 

 How these beds of Nitrate were formed has been the sub- 

 ject of much speculation. The generally accepted theory 

 is, that they were formed by the gradual decomposition 

 and natural manurial fermentation of marine animal and 

 vegetable matter, which contains a considerable amount of 

 Nitrogen. 



The same wise Providence that stored up the coal in the 

 mountains of Pennsylvania to furnish fuel for the people of 

 the United States when their supply of wood has become 

 exhausted, preserved this vast quantity of Nitrate of Soda 



