average production of 400 pounds of wheat, with the corre- Food for 

 spending straw, and it follows that to obtain 100 pounds of Plants 

 wheat there will be required: x ?3 



25 Ibs. Nitrate of Soda, costing joe. 



2 " phosphoric acid, 9C. 



3 " potash, costing i5C. 



with a total cost of 94 cents; 100 pounds of wheat or i 2-3 

 bu. with the corresponding straw would, therefore, require 

 an expenditure of 94 cents for fertilizers, or at 80 cents per 

 bushel for wheat, a net profit of 28 per cent in addition to 

 the increased yield of straw. Therefore, even at present rela- 

 tively high prices of nitrogen, the use of Nitrate of Soda is 

 still very profitable. 



Can We in Practice on the Farm Also Reckon That 

 Each 100 Pounds of Nitrate of Soda Will Pro- 

 duce 400 Pounds of Grain? 



It may be said, however, that what has been found in 

 the Darmstadt experiments may not hold good in agricultural 

 practice in the open field. Soils vary in their character; rain 

 may carry the nitrogen away. It may be too dry or too wet, 

 when the crop will produce nothing, whereas pot plants are 

 regularly supplied with water. Proof has been found in the 

 field. Everything that is found in scientific investigation 

 must be tested as to its validity under the conditions of prac- 

 tical farming, and we have ascertained by exact field experi- 

 ments carried out upon the most varying conditions of soil, 

 weather and farm management, what quantity of wheat is 

 produced by each 100 pounds of Nitrate of Soda. In previous 

 reports on the question of fertilizers, are contained the results 

 of 1 8 groups of experiments that have been carried out with 

 barley on various soils, and in the mean of these experiments 

 it has been found that 100 pounds of Nitrate of Soda pro- 

 duces 436 pounds of barley, and on 36 groups of experiments 

 carried out with winter rye, under the same conditions, 100 

 pounds of Nitrate of Soda produced 373 pounds of rye. In 26 

 other groups of experiments with barley, oats, wheat, and rye ; 

 the average results obtained show that each 100 pounds of 

 Nitrate of Soda has produced an additional yield of 377 

 pounds of wheat. These experiments, carried out in various 

 districts, and under very dissimilar conditions of soil, climate, 



