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ory cinpliasizcd the need of special fertilizers for different 

 croi)s. Thus wheat does best with nitrate of soda-nitrogen. 

 It is also especially good for asparagus. In like manner 

 sulphate of ammonia is beneficial to spinach. Nitrate of 

 soda will do wonders Avith tomatoes, though there must be 

 a fair share of potash and phosphoric acid to get' these 

 results. 



Feriihzcrs should be ground very fine to get the best im- 

 mediate results. Barnyard manures, on the other hand, are 

 not plant food, but they contain the elements of plant food 

 and liave to await disintegration in the soil before they can 

 be utilized by the plant. The effects of barnyard manures 

 have been traced in the soil by chemists twenty years after 

 application, though of course their real practical value is 

 gone long before that time. In using fertilizers the nitrogen 

 disappears the first year. In applying to drill the fertilizer 

 should be dry. By favoring the use of fertilizers he did 

 not wish himself to be understood as opposing the use of 

 barnyard manures. He uses large quantities of it on his 

 farm at Middleton, because he can buy it comparatively 

 cheap, and transportation to his farm is easy by rail. But 

 if anyone asked him if barnyard manure was as cheap at a 

 gross cost of ^1.00 a cord as $7.00 worth of fertilizer, he 

 would answer no. By the use of fertilizers he had grown 

 cabbages three years in succession on the same land. 

 Another advantage of fertilizers is they can be applied to 

 growing crops at any stage of the crop. The advantage of 

 using barnyard manures is that they add humus (black 

 earth) to the soil, which holds the fertilizing elements and 

 aids in the mechanical effects on the soil. 



The same result can be obtained by planting grains or 

 clover in the fall and ploughing it under in the spring. 

 Growing clover produces about 178 pounds of nitrogen per 

 acre, which it takes from the air. This is equal to the 

 nitrogen in seven cords of stable manure. In answer to a 

 question whether " fire fanging " (baking and heating) in- 

 jured manure, Mr. Gregory replied that it did by liberating 



