Food for American farmers, gardeners and fruit growers are sup- 



Plants p 0sec j to be ready to "catch on" to a good thing. And as 

 18 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 manufacturers of so-called "complete fer- 

 tilizers" pay the agricultural papers large sums of money 

 every year for advertising, and consequently the editors do 

 not like to publish anything that might injure this trade. 

 The real friends of agriculture, however, will be pleased to 

 know that there is a decided increase in the demand foi 

 Nitrate of Soda in this country. As soon as the farmers de- 

 mand 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 agricultural 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 conversion 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 experi- 

 ence 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 continue putting on manure till the soil 

 is as rich in Nitrogen as the manure itself, and even then 

 he must keep on manuring or he fails to get a good early 

 crop. Why? The Nitrogen of the soil, or of roots of 

 plants, or dung, is retained in the soil in a comparatively 

 inert condition. There is little or no loss. But when it 

 is slowly converted into Nitrate during warm weather, the 

 plants take it up and grow rapidly. 



