properly balanced by the chemicals needed ; but I have failed to see any bad Food for 

 results from the use of a well-balanced mineral fertilizxr, though used in large Plants 

 quantities with six to eight per cent, of Nitrogen (in the form of Nitrate of ^ 

 Soda). 



"Having five groves of bearing oranges, lemons and pomelo (grape fruit) 

 trees, which I have fertilized for some years with a purely mineral fertilizer, 

 composed of Nitrate of Soda, superphosphate and sulphate of potash, which 

 I had mixed at home, all of these surrounded by other groves on similar soil 

 where mixed fertilizers have been used of nearly all the standard brands, 

 costing from five to tzvent^^ dollars per ton more than mine, and in many 

 cases more pounds per tree used, I am certainly satisfied with the comparison 

 of condition of the trees and amount and quality of fruit. Not only have I 

 mv groves for comparison, but in different parts of the country are other 

 groves, where the same materials and formula have been used at my sug- 

 gestion, and in every case they are in the finest condition of any in the 

 neighborhood. 



"When I began buving materials to mix my own fertilizers, I used sul- 

 phate of ammonia for Nitrogen, thinking it more lasting in its effects than 

 Nitrate of Soda, but recently I have been using the Nitrate exclusively, be- 

 cause it is cheaper per unit of Nitrogen than the sulphate of ammonia, and I 

 can see no appreciable difference in the result, excepting that the Nitrate is 

 quicker in its action upon the trees, and I think upon the whole preferable of 

 the two." 



Dr. E. W. Hilgard, Director of the ^^^^ .^ ^^^^ 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, L ni- deeded in Cali- 

 versity of California in a paper entitled f^.^ia Soils. 

 "Fertilization of Orchards, after showing 

 that there is an abundance of lime in nearly all California 

 soils, says : 



"Now we are usually aiming to supply one, if not two, of the three in- 

 gredients, potash, phosphoric acid and Nitrogen. What I have just said in 

 reference to lime in California soils, investigations, so far as they have gone — 

 and they have not extended very far north of Sacramento — have shown that 

 in the vast majoritv of California soils, potash is not an ingredient that need be 

 supplied at the present time. It is so abundant in the large majority of soils 

 that when the soil fails to produce what you want, the presumption is not 

 that potash is lacking, but that either Nitrogen or phosphoric acid has given 

 out, if the soil is otherwise in good condition. Now this conclusion is the 

 result of several hundred examinations of California soils which have been 

 made at the central station at Berkeley." 



Dr. Hilgard also says : 



"By far the most convenient, and at present certainly the cheapest and most 

 available source of Nitrogen at command of the farmer is Nitrate of SoJa, 

 which contains about sixteen per cent, of Nitrogen in its most effective form. 

 From I 50 to 200 lbs. per acre is the usual dose." 



