

PROFITABLE FARMING 9 



great importance should the season turn out wet, 

 as nitrogen is the most expensive of the plant 

 foods. Of still greater importance, however, 

 is the manner in which organic 

 nitrogen improves soil texture, in- organic 

 stead of injuring it, the danger of ltr 9 en 

 which has already been indicated 

 in the case of nitrate of soda and 

 sulphate of ammonia. Mr. A. D. Hall, the 

 talented director until recently of the re- 

 nowned Rothamsted Experiment Station, states 

 in his book, " Fertilisers and Manures " : 

 " The importance of this factor of tilth will be 

 more realised when we remember that nearly the 

 whole of the farmers' labour in spring is directed 

 towards obtaining a fine seed-bed for such 

 crops as barley and roots. Furthermore, if the 

 weather conditions are adverse to the start of the 

 crop, the eventual yield will depend more upon 

 the condition of the seed-bed than upon any 

 other factor. The potent effect of organic man- 

 ures in promoting a good tilth is very clearly 

 shown by the Rothamsted experiments upon 

 Mangolds/' and he goes on to say that " only in 

 favourable seasons is what a farmer would call a 

 good plant obtained on the nitrate and the 

 ammonia plots, whereas the organic nitrogen 

 plot starts regularly enough." 



At Woburn Experimental Farm of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England experiments 

 extending over more than thirty years confirm 

 these statements and have proved the marked 

 advantages of organic nitrogen during a series 

 of years on other crops as well. 



