cent, of Nitrogen. Nitrate of Soda resembles common salt, ^^^^ ^^^ 



• . . , Plants 

 with which and sodium sulphate it is often adulterated. 



This salt is at once available as a direct fertilizer, and being "^ 



very soluble in water is therefore liable to be washed from 

 soils. Whenever practicable its hould be applied as a top- 

 dressing to growing crops, and if possible the dressings 

 should be given in two or three successive rations. 



Nitrate of Soda is usually applied at the rate of from lOO 

 to 200 pounds per acre on land previously dressed with 

 farm-yard manure. To secure an even distribution, the 

 Nitrate should be previously well mixed with from three to 

 five parts of fine loam or sand. 



Much has been said and written about Nitrate of Soda 

 exhausting the soil. This is all a mistake and is the out- 

 come of incorrect reasoning. Nitrate of Soda does not 

 exhaust soils. It does promote the development of the leafy 

 parts of plants, and its effects are at once noticeable in the 

 deep, rich green, and vigorous growth of crops. The 

 growth of plants is greatly energized by its use, for the 

 Nitrate in supplying an abundance of nitrogenous food to 

 plants, imparts to them a thrift and vigor which enables 

 their roots to gather in the shortest time the largest amount 

 of other needed foods from a greater surface of surrounding 

 soil. Nitrate of Soda adds nothing of value to the soil but 

 nitric acid. The thirty-seven to forty per cent, of soda 

 which it contains is practically of no use to agricultural 

 plants. In the increased crop contained by its use there 

 must necessarily be more potash and phosphoric acid than 

 would have been contained in a smaller crop on which the 

 Nitrate of Soda had not been used. The increased con- 

 sumption of phosphoric acid and potash is due to the in- 

 crease in the weight of the crop. The office of the Nitrate 

 is to convert the raw materials of the soil into a crop; for we 

 obtain by its use, as Dr. Griffiths has tersely said, "the fullest 

 crop with the greatest amount of profit, with the least 

 damage to the land." 



On cereals Nitrate of Soda should be used „ ^t j 



, • 1 • 1 1 II How Used. 



aloiie or mixed with dry superpnospliate 



and applied as a top-dressing. 



On grass lands it may be applied as a top-dressing at the 



rate of 150 to 200 pounds per acre. 



