MIXING FERTILIZERS AT HOME 249 



and he is a legume farmer also. The other farmer neither 

 feeds stock nor grows any legume. Now, do you think it 

 good sense to use the same wheat fertilizer for both farms ? 

 On one farm there is nitrogen enough, but on the other it 

 may be lacking and greatly in demand by every crop 

 seeded there. For let us remember that where stable 

 manure is made and preserved in a proper way, and where 

 legumes are grown as they ought to be, then there is no 

 need of nitrogen being applied to the soil, although the 

 crop may be exhaustive in character and may come fre- 

 quently in rotation. 



On the other hand, phosphorus and potassium may be 

 lacking in the soil. Grain crops may have depleted your 

 lands of one or both of these elements. The supply may 

 never have been large. We have soil types on record 

 that show a lack of phosphorus, and we have others that 

 show a lack of potassium. A crop of legumes seemingly 

 may increase the quantity of either in the top soil, but 

 these elements both have been got from the subsoil ; and 

 later, when plowed under, the phosphorus and potassium 

 stores may be larger, but the increase has come from the 

 subsoil. 



In these cases, there has simply been a transfer from 

 the farm beneath to the farm above : there has been no 

 real addition of plant food to the soil. Consequently, if 

 lands are deficient in cither phosphorus or potassium, the 

 deficiency must be made good in some outside way: by 

 manures or commercial fertili/er, or by using such ma- 

 terial or materials that is needed as a reen force men t of the 

 present stores. 



Test your lands. Your first question naturally is: 

 What element, or elements, is lacking in my soil? The 

 only way by which a real scientific answer can come is by 

 means of an experiment made by you on your own farm, 



