Food for 

 Plants 



60 



Nitrate is being furnished at a time when the crop should 

 commence to mature. The crop needs Nitrated ammonia, 

 but it should have been supplied during the earlier stages 

 of growth. Use at first a fertilizer, 500 pounds per acre. 

 Top Dress as soon as the crop shows growth in the Spring 

 with 100 pounds of Nitrate of Soda to the acre, broadcast. 



Wheat. 



The soil for this grain, fall planting, ranges from a clay 



loam to a moderate sandy loam. For spring wheat, moist 



^^, J\\ i,A , ^ peaty soils are used. Wheat 



,_^'-^\j:^y.iif,^i,..^.iy^y:^^ IS usually grown m rotation, 



"^5^^^ ^ -xV < //^ " '> ;' in which case it nearly always 

 I- ^" ' ^'^ ^//^<:^<^^-^ follows corn, or a clean culture 

 ^l^v ''/m^.^x^0^ crop. The nature of cultivation 



g^V'- -^^ is too well known to require 

 ^ mention here. Both spring and 

 winter wheat are commonly 

 fertilized crops, particularly 

 the latter. The average fer- 

 tilizer for wheat should contain 

 Ammonia (Nitrogen), phos- 

 phoric acid and potash. This 

 fertilizer is applied with the 

 seed, and at the rate of 500 

 pounds to the acre. Nitrate of 

 Soda is also applied as a top-dressing as soon as the crop 

 shows green in the spring, broadcast, at the rate of 100 

 pounds per acre. Like all grains, wheat should have its 

 ammoniate plant food early, and in the highly available, 

 easily digested Nitrated form, such as is only to be found 

 commercially as Nitrate of Soda. 



The plant food needs of a crop of 30 bushels of wheat 

 per acre amounts to about 70 pounds of ammonia, 24 pounds 

 of phosphoric acid, and 30 pounds of potash; this includes 

 the straw, chaff and stubble. One hundred pounds of 

 Nitrate of Soda supply about 20 pounds of Nitrated 

 ammonia, so that the quantity mentioned for top-dressing 

 is a minimum quantity. Much has been said of legume 

 ammonia for wheat, the crop being generally grown in rota- 

 tion. Whatever ammonia the clover may have gathered, 



