94 



Food for Plants. 



his success largely to the liberal dressings of Nitrate of 

 Soda which he invariably applied to liis fields early in 

 the spring, and which started the grass otf with such a 

 vigorous growth as to shade and crowd out all noxious 

 weeds before they got fairly started and which resulted 

 y Wn a large crop of clean and high-priced hay. 



It is also known that many who have tested his methods 

 have met with failure chiefly because they neglected to 



1. Without Nitrogen.. 2. Vs Ration of Nitrogen. 3. Full Ration of 



Nitrogen. 



All three fertilized alike with Muriate of Potash and Acid Phosphate. — 



R. I. Bui. 103. 



How Careful 

 Cultivation 

 May Aid in the 

 Profitable Use 

 of Nitrate. 



supply the young grass plants with a sufficient amount 



of readily available food for their use in 

 early spring, and before the organic 

 forms of Nitrogen, which exist in the soil 

 only in an insoluble form and which can- 

 not be utilized by the plants as food, 

 are converted into soluble Nitrates by 

 the action of bacteria in the soil. This 

 does not occur to any great extent until the soil warms 

 up to summer temperature when it is too late in the sea- 

 son to benefit the crops' early spring growth. 



It is important that we always bear in mind the fact 

 that our only source of Nitrogen in the soil for all plants 

 is the remnants of former crops (roots, stems, dead 

 leaves, weeds, etc.) in different stages of decomposition, 

 and that in the early spring there is always a scarcity of 

 Nitrogen in the soil in an available form, for the reason 

 that the most of that which was converted into soluble 



