CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



pounds, and looks much like discolored salt. It 

 is easily soluble in water, and usually contains a 

 little over 15 per cent of nitrogen, which is in a very 

 available form. Its immediate availability brings 

 it into use by gardeners and truckers, and it is an 

 excellent source of nitrogen for grass fertilizers 

 to be used in the early spring. It was formerly 

 advised that nitrate of soda should not form part 

 of a fertilizer for use before plant-roots had filled 

 the ground, its high availability being supposed to 

 lead to heavy loss by leaching. The Pennsyl- 

 vania experiment station uses it as its sole source 

 of nitrogen in fertilizers for staple crops on its 

 900 acres of farm land. It is effective in fertiliz- 

 ers for corn, wheat, potatoes, and grass, as well 

 as for special crops. 



The warnings regarding loss by leaching should 

 not be disregarded, however. If the price of 

 nitrogen in an organic form were as low as it has 

 been in nitrate of soda, and if the soils of the 

 Pennsylvania station farms were sandy, the use 

 of nitrate of soda as the sole carrier of nitrogen 

 would be inadvisable. The only fact of conse- 

 quence is that the danger of loss has been over- 

 stated, turning some farmers away from the use 

 of a good and relatively cheap carrier of nitrogen. 



[172] 



