Food for maturity are to be attained. The experiments with Nitrate 



^°^^ of Soda were, therefore, planned to show in which directions 



^22 the benefits from its use were observed — whether, for ex- 

 ample, in the larger yield of a crop of the same general char- 

 acter, or whether, together with the larger yield, there was an 

 earlier maturity of those crops in which early maturity is an 

 important factor, or whether the marketable quality was 

 improved, thus returning a larger profiffor the same yield, 

 or whether all of these factors were involved, and the results 

 showed that, as a whole, benefits were obtained in all these 

 directions. The more important crops of this class were 

 included in these experiments. 



p, . „ , , In the growing of this crop, whose value 



^ may range from ^300 to $600 per acre, the 



amount of plant-food annually applied is 

 usually far in excess of that removed in the crops of any 

 year, in order to guarantee against any shortage of food 

 should unfavorable weather conditions intervene; the crop 

 must be kept growing at all hazards. In good practice an 

 application of from fifteen to twenty tons of manure and 

 about one ton of a high-grade commercial fertilizer are used 

 per acre. The plants are usually grown under glass, and 

 transplanted as soon as the land is fit to work. Hence the 

 questions asked by the experimenter were, first, whether an 

 additional application of Nitrogen in the form of a Nitrate 

 would be a profitable practice in connection with this heavy 

 application of all of the plant-food constituents, and second, 

 how much should be used. The applications, therefore, 

 ranged from 400 to 700 pounds per acre. The results from 

 the experiments of two years were emphatic in showing an 

 increase in yield and a considerable profit each year, and 

 though the profits were not in proportion to the amount of 

 Nitrogen applied, the largest net returns were obtained from 

 the heaviest applications; the average net return per acre 

 from 400 pounds was ^24.40, and from 700 pounds, $47.55. 

 The influence of the Nitrate was noticeable mainly upon the 

 earliness of crop. In the first experiment the yield of the 

 first picking was 63 per cent, greater from the Nitrated plots 

 than from the one upon which no additional Nitrate had been 

 added. The extra early yield, for which the highest prices 

 were obtained, was increased from 8.3 per cent, on the plot 

 on which 400 pounds were added to 12.8 per cent, on the plot 



