from which the guano had been withheld hardly averaged Food for 



S'^ per hundred. The street occupied fully an acre of ^"^^ 



ground, so that my friend actually lost over ^i,ooo in the ^ 

 crop by withholding :?6o for manure." 



There is no difference between the manurial require- 

 ments of an early and a late cabbage Both require the 

 same food, and the late crop being the larger, requires more 

 rather than less food or manure per acre. 



And yet, in practice, it is found absolutely necessary to 

 use far more manure for the early crop than for the late 

 crop. The explanation is this: 



It is now known that the Nitrogen in the organic 

 matter of the soil or manure is slowly converted into the 

 Nitrate form by the growth of a minute organism. This 

 micrococcus cannot grow if the soil is too cold, or too wet, 

 or too dry, or in the absence of lime or an alkali. As a 

 general rule, there is no lack of lime in the soil, 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 onlv a moderate crop the first year. He puts 

 on 75 tons more manure the next year, and gets a better 

 crop. And he mav 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. 



How, then, is the market gardener to get the Nitrate 

 absolutely necessary for the growth of his early plants ? 

 He mav get it, as before stated, from an excessive and con- 

 tinuous use of stable manure, but then \\t fails to get it in 

 sufficient quantity. 



One thousand pounds of Nitrate of Soda will furnish 

 more Nitrogen to the plants early in the spring than the 



