14 



These results are practically obtainable, have been obtained 

 and are not fictitious, yet in reality they are rarely obtained; not, 

 however, because science is wrong, but because generally, even 

 if the proper nitrogen supply is put into the ground, the other 

 conditions necessary for that surplus production are wanting. 



ONE-SIDED FERTILIZATION DOES NOT PAY. 



The experiments of Beseler and Maerker, as well as those of 

 Prof. Wagner, the latter undertaken with a view to corroborate 

 the former,, have given the following information: Nitrogen 

 only then serves as the means to produce a maximum crop, if 

 the stimulus it imparts to plants to grow is not checked by the 

 absence of those ingredients without which plants cannot grow, 

 namely, phosphoric acid and potash. At the same time the 

 propensity of nitrogen to be consumed by non-leguminous 

 plants is such, that if the conditions are wanting for the produc- 

 tion of a maximum crop, they will produce what the soil 

 permits, with a higher content of nitrogen. For instance, if an 

 oat-field contains, say forty pounds of nitrogen (by soil analysis), 

 and forty pounds more are put into it to obtain a more profitable 

 harvest, the dry substance of the harvest may be 11,500 pounds 

 at 0.7 per cent, of nitrogen, or only 8000 pounds at one per cent, 

 of nitrogen. If the farmer provided for 100 pounds of potash 

 (K 2 O), fifty pounds of phosphoric acid and twenty-five pounds 

 of lime, besides providing for forty pounds of nitrogen, then 

 the maximum crop of 11,500 pounds can be obtained, but not 

 otherwise. The nitrogen will be consumed, it will not remain 

 in the soil, it goes toward making whatever is being harvested 

 much richer in nitrogen, but it will and can do no more. 



Given, however, the proper conditions to show its pre-emi- 

 nent quality in stimulating plants to grow, that is to say, given 

 an excess of potash and phosphoric acid in the soil, nitrogen 

 does not fail to perform its office. Practical experiments es- 

 tablish this point beyond doubt. Nor is there much diversity 

 of opinion among scientists as regards the value of nitrogen 

 fertilization; there is only diversity of opinion as to whether 

 nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, blood, tankage, fish-scrap, 

 or something else, is the best form in which it should be put into 



