adulterated. This salt is at once available as a direct Food for 



fertilizer. Whenever practicable it should be applied . 



as a top-dressing to growing crops, and if possible the 22 5 

 dressings should be given in two or three successive 

 rations. 



Nitrate of Soda is usually applied at the rate of 

 from 100 to 200 pounds per acre on land previously 

 dressed with farm-yard manure. To secure an even 

 distribution, the Nitrate should be well mixed with 

 from three to five parts of fine loam or sand. 



Much has been said and written about Nitrate of 

 Soda exhausting the soil. This is all a mistake and is the 

 outcome of incorrect reasoning. Nitrate of Soda does 

 not exhaust soils. It does promote the development of 

 the leafy parts of plants, and its effects are at once 

 noticeable in the deep, rich green, and vigorous growth 

 of crops. The growth of plants is greatly energized 

 by its use, for the Nitrate in supplying an abundance 

 of nitrogenous food to plants, imparts to them a thrift 

 and vigor which enables their roots to gather in the 

 shortest time the largest amount of other needed foods 

 from a greater surface of surrounding soil. The thirty- 

 seven to forty per cent, of Soda which Nitrate contains 

 is practically of no use to agricultural plants. In the 

 increased crop obtained by its use there must necessarily 

 be more potash and phosphoric acid than would have 

 been contained in a smaller crop on which the Nitrate 

 of Soda had not been used. The increased consumption 

 of phosphoric acid and potash is due to the increase in 

 the weight of the crop. The office of the Nitrate is to 

 convert the raw materials of the soil into a crop; for we 

 obtain by its use, as Dr. Griffiths has tersely said, "the 

 fullest crop with the greatest amount of profit, with the 

 least damage to the land." 



On cereals Nitrate of Soda should 

 i ii -j -4-u i How Used, 



be used alone or mixed with dry super- 

 phosphate and applied as a top-dressing. 



On grass lands it may be applied as a top-dressing 

 at the rate of 150 to 200 pounds per acre. 



Some of our most successful onion growers use 

 Nitrate of Soda at the rate of from 500 to 700 pounds 

 per acre, applying the Nitrate in three successive top- 



