to ♦ nn. The answer to the questions as 



Plants Wheat. v j . ^ . • ,i 



applied to wheat are, in essence, the 



66 same, though modified in particular points, owing to the 

 fact that the wheat is grown for grain, rather than for 

 weight of total produce, as in the case of hay, and 

 also because wheat, being seeded in the fall, has not 

 so large a root system as grass, and therefore 

 greater care should be used in the application of the 

 material. Nitrate of Soda is, however, the substance 

 that is likely to give the most satisfactory results as a 

 top-dressing, because, as already pointed out, it is 

 soluble, and can thus reach every point of the soil 

 without the necessity of cultivation and it is immedi- 

 ately available, and thus supplies food at once or at 

 the time most needed, energizing the plants weakened 

 by the winter and strengthening those already vigor- 

 ous and enabling them to secure a larger proportion 

 of the mineral elements. The time of application 

 should be early in the spring, or after growth has started. 



The results of experiments con- 

 Gains from the ducted to answer this question show a 



o/soda l a 6 S am m both grain and straw from the 



top-dressing of Nitrate of Soda. The 

 yields per acre, without the top-dressing, ranged from 

 eleven to twenty-seven bushels of grain per acre and 

 from 1,500 to 1,800 pounds of straw, thus showing a 

 wide variation in the character of the soils used and 

 in seasons, making the average of the results generally 

 applicable. 



The gain in yield of grain ranged from 25.9 to 

 100 per cent., while that of straw ranged from 54 to 

 100 per cent., or an average of 60.8 per cent, increase 

 in the case of the grain, and 83.8 per cent, increase 

 in the case of the straw. The value of these increased 

 yields, at average prices, shows a large profit in all 

 cases. Applying this to the average yield per acre of 

 wheat and straw, namely, thirteen bushels of wheat and 

 1,600 pounds of straw for the Eastern and Southern 

 States included in our discussion, we find a gain of 7.9 

 bushels of wheat and 1,340 pounds of straw, and a 

 valuation of seventy-five cents per bushel for wheat 

 and $6 per ton for straw, which prices probably repre- 



