Food for Cr0 p. If a crO p appears to make a slow growth, or seems 

 5 sickly in color, it does not greatly matter whether the soil 



3 6 is deficient in Nitrate or simply that the Nitrogen present 

 has not been Nitrated and so is not available; the remedy 

 lies in top-dressings of the immediately available form of 

 Nitrate of Soda. 



Top-Dressings. 



Top-Dressing, as commonly understood 



ff>\ Wth means simply the application of plant 

 Plants. j OQ( i a j ter see ji n g t an d a f ter t f ie cro p 



has made some growth. It has various objects, but chief 

 among them is the fact that fall sown crops should make an 

 early start in the spring in order to establish an extensive 

 root system (foraging both for food and water), and to 

 protect the soil by shading before the hot, dry days come. 

 The earlier growth of crops is largely a matter of Nitrate 

 plant food, but in the spring the soil is usually wet and cold, 

 both conditions unfavorable for the action of organisms which 

 convert the stored plant food into Nitrates. 



A very late spring may prevent the natural and usual 

 . Nitration of this kind of plant food though 



How Nitr large quantities may have been applied in 



bave! me, ^ f orm O f organic ammoniates and other 

 Money, and the crude manures> so tnat tne warm weather 

 finds the crop very backward and a full 

 crop cannot be made. An application of Nitrate of Soda, 

 the most quickly available form of plant food in commercial 

 use as a fertilizer, soon after the crop shows the fresh green 

 color of new growth in the spring, prevents this loss of time 

 and establishes the crop so as to resist drouth and reach and 

 make use of the plant food necessary for the maturity of its 

 stalk and the ripening of its seed. 



Top-Dressings are also made to advant- 

 age on fruits and vegetables from which 

 the proportion of valuable produce to 

 stalk or vine is so great. With these crops there must be 

 no check in the regular growth of the plants, and Nitrate 



