Food for nitrogen must be applied to the soil, and that even at the 

 Pl * nt> present price of Nitrate of Soda, high net profits will be ob- 

 '? 6 tained by fertilizing with nitrogen. This, however, is contin- 

 gent upon the application of nitrogen in proper quantity and 

 in a proper manner. 



It is impossible to tell exactly, however, how much 

 nitrogen must be applied on wheat, turnips, or potatoes, 

 in order to be sure of the highest possible net profit. Some 

 soils are rich in nitrogen, others are poor in this element; 

 rich soils have to receive a light dressing, poor soils a heavy 

 dressing. The extent of fertilizing has to be adapted to the 

 circumstances of the case. This seems to be a difficult matter, 

 and the farmer must have some idea as to how to arrive at 

 the amount that shall be applied under given conditions. 

 They must know how to find the quantities of Nitrate of Soda 

 that have to be applied under given circumstances in order to 

 obtain the highest yield and the highest net profit. The fol- 

 lowing examples are given from our practice : 



How to Arrive at the Dressing of Nitrate of Soda 



Which Should be Employed Under Given 



Conditions. 



Example I. 



In the first example, oats had to be dressed with Nitrate 

 of Soda; on the ground of previous experience there it is to 

 be assumed that without a dressing of Nitrate of Soda not 

 more than 2464 pounds of grain per acre would be obtained. 

 On the other hand, it was assumed that by a sufficient dress- 

 ing, a yield up to 3520 pounds of oats might very well be se- 

 cured. The problem then was, to increase the yield by 1056 

 pounds of grain. How much Nitrate of Soda was required for 

 the purpose? We could readily calculate that; in order to ob- 

 tain an additional yield of 1056 pounds of grain, we had to 

 employ 264 pounds of Nitrate of Soda. This was done. 132 

 pounds of Nitrate of Soda was given at the time of sow- 

 ing, and 132 pounds applied four weeks later. The result is 

 as follows: 



Without the dressing of Nitrate of Soda 2376 Ibs. of grain were obtained. 

 With the dressing of Nitrate of Soda 3344 Ibs. of grain were obtained. 



