have physical uses as an absorbent and in improving £°°* * or 



the condition of mixtures containing Nitrates, acid 



phosphate and potash salts, and, that proper conser- 45 

 vation of natural resources demands that waste Nitro- 

 genous materials should be utilized. The points are 

 conceded, but let no farmer pay a high Nitrogen price 

 for a mere absorbent filler or a conditioner. The 

 Experiment Stations do not discourage, but strongly 

 encourage, the utilization of waste products containing 

 Nitrogen. They would be false to their duty to the 

 farmers, however, if they did not clearly point out to 

 them what is known of the real agricultural value of 

 such products. It is not merely a question of use- 

 it is a question of cost. 



It is not economy to save refuse Nitrogenous ma- 

 terials, if the cost of the Nitrogen to the farmer is 

 greater and his returns less than may be obtained by 

 the use of Nitrogen from materials of known value. 

 Farmers have been and are now spending thousands of 

 dollars for Nitrogen for which they do not receive even 

 a proportionate return. 



To the farmer, it should be purely a business propo- 

 sition. He buys Nitrogen, in order that he may get 

 a return in his crop. If in one case 100 pounds of 

 Nitrogen contributes 60 pounds to the crops upon 

 which it is applied, and in another 100 pounds con- 

 tributes but 40 pounds to the crops, the purchaser 

 should not pay the same for the second as for the first, 

 for if he did so he would pay 50 per cent, more per 

 pound for his "available" Nitrogen. That is, if the 

 cost of one hundred pounds of Nitrate Nitrogen was 

 $14, the cost of the dried blood, one hundred pounds 

 of Nitrogen should be but $10, for the basis of value 

 is the amount available in each case. 



How Nitrate of Soda Helps Crops. 



The highest agricultural authorities have estab- 

 lished by careful experimentation that 100 pounds per 

 acre of Nitrate of Soda appliedjto crops has produced 

 the INCREASED yields tabulated as follows: 



