129 



It IS claimed that tarmvard manure has a ^ ,. .... r ^°°^ for 



1 • 1 r.- 1 • 1 ' J J 1 Keliability or plants 



mechanical ettect which adds to its value j.,. ^^ j. ^^^ 



, , , 1 r J Nitrate ot boda. 



much more than the mere plant rood con- 

 tained in same. There seems to be no very clear under- 

 standing as to the exact nature of this mechanical usefulness, 

 but it is to be presumed that farmyard manure has sufficient 

 value to justify a more or less caretul saving of same ; as to 

 the price to be paid for it commercially, that is quite another 

 matter. The after effect ot farmyard manure was found to 

 be much greater than from the fertilizer chemicals, but as 

 the farmyard manure plot received //;rt'd' times the ammonia 

 applied to the fertilizer chemical plots, it is reasonable to 

 expect a marked difference in after effect. As a matter of fact, 

 however, after effect in modern agriculture is of doubtful 

 utility; to place any dependence upon same is to take the 

 risk of crop failure and the loss of a year in time as well as 

 all the work done. In this experiment 50 pounds of 

 ammonia as Nitrate of Soda produced an increase of nearly 

 84 per cent over the plot not treated with ammonia; the 

 most successful form of farmyard manure, using three times 

 the quantity of ammonia, produced in crop, and in the 

 after crop 158 per cent over the plot not treated with 

 ammonia. Deducting the 84 per cent as the average 

 results with 50 pounds of Nitrate of Soda ammoniate we 

 have a gain of 74 per cent, representing 100 pounds of 

 farmvard manure ammonia. It would have been better 

 therefore to have used Nitrate each year, supposing, of 

 course, the ammonia had cost the same in both cases. 



Terms Used in Discussing Fertilizers. 



Complete fertilizer is one which contains the three 

 essential fertilizing constituents, in available fine form ; for 

 example. Nitrate of Soda, Ground Bone, and Soluble 

 Potash and as Muriate or Wood Ashes. 



Nitrogen may exist in three distinct forms, viz., as 

 Nitrates, as Nitrogenous organic matter, as ammonia 

 salts. 



Nitrates furnish the most readily available forms of 

 Nitrogen. The most common is Nitrate of Soda. 



Nitration, or nitrification, is the process by which the 

 highly available Nitrates are formed from the less active 



