Food for Nitrate of Soda 500 Ibs. 



Plants Ground bone 200 " 



^T Acid phosphate 200 ' 



Muriate of potash zoo " 



1,000 Ibs. 



Applied at the rate of 200 to 300 pounds per acre. 



wf. The answer to the questions as applied 



to wheat are, in essence, the 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 the 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 immediately available, and thus 

 supplies food at once or at the time most needed, energizing 

 the plants weakened by the winter and strengthening those 

 already vigorous and enabling them to secure a larger pro- 

 portion of the mineral elements. The time of application 

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



^ . e The results of experiments conducted to 



Gains from the , . . , . 



., f NT* answer this question show a gain in both 



P <> . grain and straw from the top-dressing of 



Nitrate of Soda. The yields per acre, with- 

 out 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 South- 



