the case of the spring or summer-seeded crops the appHca- ^^^^ ^^^ 

 tions were made after the plants were well started and root _^^_^ — 

 systems well established and ready for the Methods of ^"^^ 



rapid absorption of food. In raising forage Application, 

 crops the best results, m fact, satisfactory 

 results, can only be obtained when grown under the inten- 

 sive system. The soil must be well prepared and an 

 abundance of all the elements of plant-food supplied. 

 Hence, the application of Nitrate may be greater than is 

 usually recommended for grain crops under the extensive 

 system. 



Although there are many valuable suggestions offered 

 by the experiments, at least two are of fundamental im- 

 portance, and cannot be too strongly urged upon the atten- 

 tion of farmers: 



1. That the constituents Nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 

 potash, as found in commercial supplies furnishing these 

 elements, do serve as plant-food, nourishing the plant in the 

 same manner as those in home manures, and should, there- 

 fore, be liberally used, in order to guarantee maximum crops. 



2. Of these constituent elements Nitrogen is of especial 

 importance, because it is the one element which, in its natural 

 state, must be changed in form before it can be used by the 

 plants. Hence, its application in an immediately-available 

 form is especially advantageous jor quick-grozving vegetable 

 crops, whose marketable quality is measured by rapid and 

 continuous grozvth, and for those field crops which make their 

 greatest development in spring, before the conditions are favor- 

 able for the change of the Nitrogen in the soil into forms usable 

 by plants. 



FARMERS' BULLETIN No. 107. 



Editor: W. H. BEAL. 



Prepared in the Office of Experiment Stations. 

 A. C. TRUE, Director. 



Page 7. 



" Under existing conditions farmers are advised to purchase 

 fertilizer materials and to make their own mixtures rather 

 than to purchase mixed or complete special fertilizers. This 

 course is believed to be advisable for two reasons: First, 



