Food for fertilizers and paying over 25 cents per pound for it, use 



plants annually over eight hundred thousand (800,000) tons 



H of Nitrate of Soda as a fertilizer, while yet only a few 



thousands of American farmers are using it at a cost 



generally of less than 20 cents per pound. 



American farmers, gardeners and fruit growers are 

 supposed to be ready to "catch on" to a good thing. 

 And as soon as our Agricultural Press let them know the 

 facts in regard to the great value of Nitrate of Soda as a 

 Fertilizer our farmers will not be slow to use it. The 

 reason why so little is said about Nitrate of Soda is 

 simply owing to the fact that there is "no money in 

 it for the trade." It is an article that everybody can 

 sell, and consequently no one can afford to advertise it. 

 The real friends of agriculture, however, will be pleased 

 to know that there is a decided increase in the demand 

 for Nitrate of Soda in this country. As soon as the 

 farmers demand it, the dealers in fertilizers will be 

 glad to keep the Nitrate for sale, and sooner or later 

 will advertise it. In the mean time, if your agricul- 

 tural paper does not tell you about Nitrate of Soda 

 and how to use it, take a paper that keeps up with the 

 science and practice of the age. 



It is now known that the Nitrogen in organic 

 matter of soil or manure is slowly converted into the 

 Nitrate form by a minute organism. This cannot 

 grow if the soil be too cold, or too wet, or too dry, or 

 in a sour soil. As a general rule, soils must be kept 

 sweet and the other conditions necessary for the con- 

 version of the Nitrogen into the Nitrate form are warm 

 weather and a moist soil in good physical condition. 



In the early spring the soil is too wet and too cold 

 for the change to take place. We must wait for warm 

 weather. But the gardener does not want to wait. He 

 makes his profits largely on his early crops Guided 

 only by experience and tradition, he fills his land with 

 manure, and even then he gets only a moderate crop 

 the first year. He puts on 75 tons more manure the 

 next year, and gets a better crop. And he may con- 

 tinue putting on manure till the soil is as rich in Nitro- 

 gen as the manure itself, and even then he must keep 

 on manuring or he fails to get a good early crop. 



